FYODOR LUKITCH SYSOEV, the master of the factory school maintained at the expense of the firm of Kulikin, was getting ready for the annual dinner. Every year after the school examination the board of managers gave a dinner at which the inspector1 of elementary schools, all who had conducted the examinations, and all the managers and foremen of the factory were present. In spite of their official character, these dinners were always good and lively, and the guests sat a long time over them; forgetting distinctions of rank and recalling only their meritorious2 labours, they ate till they were full, drank amicably3, chattered4 till they were all hoarse5 and parted late in the evening, deafening6 the whole factory settlement with their singing and the sound of their kisses. Of such dinners Sysoev had taken part in thirteen, as he had been that number of years master of the factory school.
Now, getting ready for the fourteenth, he was trying to make himself look as festive7 and correct as possible. He had spent a whole hour brushing his new black suit, and spent almost as long in front of a looking-glass while he put on a fashionable shirt; the studs would not go into the button-holes, and this circumstance called forth8 a perfect storm of complaints, threats, and reproaches addressed to his wife.
His poor wife, bustling9 round him, wore herself out with her efforts. And indeed he, too, was exhausted10 in the end. When his polished boots were brought him from the kitchen he had not strength to pull them on. He had to lie down and have a drink of water.
“How weak you have grown!” sighed his wife. “You ought not to go to this dinner at all.”
“No advice, please!” the schoolmaster cut her short angrily.
He was in a very bad temper, for he had been much displeased11 with the recent examinations. The examinations had gone off splendidly; all the boys of the senior division had gained certificates and prizes; both the managers of the factory and the government officials were pleased with the results; but that was not enough for the schoolmaster. He was vexed12 that Babkin, a boy who never made a mistake in writing, had made three mistakes in the dictation; Sergeyev, another boy, had been so excited that he could not remember seventeen times thirteen; the inspector, a young and inexperienced man, had chosen a difficult article for dictation, and Lyapunov, the master of a neighbouring school, whom the inspector had asked to dictate13, had not behaved like “a good comrade”; but in dictating14 had, as it were, swallowed the words and had not pronounced them as written.
After pulling on his boots with the assistance of his wife, and looking at himself once more in the looking-glass, the schoolmaster took his gnarled stick and set off for the dinner. Just before the factory manager’s house, where the festivity was to take place, he had a little mishap15. He was taken with a violent fit of coughing . . . . He was so shaken by it that the cap flew off his head and the stick dropped out of his hand; and when the school inspector and the teachers, hearing his cough, ran out of the house, he was sitting on the bottom step, bathed in perspiration16.
“Fyodor Lukitch, is that you?” said the inspector, surprised. “You . . . have come?”
“Why not?”
“You ought to be at home, my dear fellow. You are not at all well to-day. . . .”
“I am just the same to-day as I was yesterday. And if my presence is not agreeable to you, I can go back.”
“Oh, Fyodor Lukitch, you must not talk like that! Please come in. Why, the function is really in your honour, not ours. And we are delighted to see you. Of course we are! . . .”
Within, everything was ready for the banquet. In the big dining-room adorned17 with German oleographs and smelling of geraniums and varnish18 there were two tables, a larger one for the dinner and a smaller one for the hors-d’oeuvres. The hot light of midday faintly percolated19 through the lowered blinds. . . . The twilight20 of the room, the Swiss views on the blinds, the geraniums, the thin slices of sausage on the plates, all had a naïve, girlishly-sentimental21 air, and it was all in keeping with the master of the house, a good-natured little German with a round little stomach and affectionate, oily little eyes. Adolf Andreyitch Bruni (that was his name) was bustling round the table of hors-d’oeuvres as zealously22 as though it were a house on fire, filling up the wine-glasses, loading the plates, and trying in every way to please, to amuse, and to show his friendly feelings. He clapped people on the shoulder, looked into their eyes, chuckled23, rubbed his hands, in fact was as ingratiating as a friendly dog.
“Whom do I behold24? Fyodor Lukitch!” he said in a jerky voice, on seeing Sysoev. “How delightful25! You have come in spite of your illness. Gentlemen, let me congratulate you, Fyodor Lukitch has come!”
The school-teachers were already crowding round the table and eating the hors-d’oeuvres. Sysoev frowned; he was displeased that his colleagues had begun to eat and drink without waiting for him. He noticed among them Lyapunov, the man who had dictated26 at the examination, and going up to him, began:
“Yes, still harping on it! My Babkin has never made mistakes! I know why you dictated like that. You simply wanted my pupils to be floored, so that your school might seem better than mine. I know all about it! . . .”
“Come, gentlemen,” interposed the inspector, making a woebegone face. “Is it worth while to get so heated over a trifle? Three mistakes . . . not one mistake . . . does it matter?”
“Yes, it does matter. Babkin has never made mistakes.”
“He won’t leave off,” Lyapunov went on, snorting angrily. “He takes advantage of his position as an invalid31 and worries us all to death. Well, sir, I am not going to consider your being ill.”
“Let my illness alone!” cried Sysoev, angrily. “What is it to do with you? They all keep repeating it at me: illness! illness! illness! . . . As though I need your sympathy! Besides, where have you picked up the notion that I am ill? I was ill before the examinations, that’s true, but now I have completely recovered, there is nothing left of it but weakness.”
“You have regained32 your health, well, thank God,” said the scripture33 teacher, Father Nikolay, a young priest in a foppish34 cinnamon-coloured cassock and trousers outside his boots. “You ought to rejoice, but you are irritable35 and so on.”
“You are a nice one, too,” Sysoev interrupted him. “Questions ought to be straightforward36, clear, but you kept asking riddles37. That’s not the thing to do!”
By combined efforts they succeeded in soothing38 him and making him sit down to the table. He was a long time making up his mind what to drink, and pulling a wry39 face drank a wine-glass of some green liqueur; then he drew a bit of pie towards him, and sulkily picked out of the inside an egg with onion on it. At the first mouthful it seemed to him that there was no salt in it. He sprinkled salt on it and at once pushed it away as the pie was too salt.
At dinner Sysoev was seated between the inspector and Bruni. After the first course the toasts began, according to the old-established custom.
“I consider it my agreeable duty,” the inspector began, “to propose a vote of thanks to the absent school wardens40, Daniel Petrovitch and . . . and . . . and . . .”
“And Ivan Petrovitch,” Bruni prompted him.
“And Ivan Petrovitch Kulikin, who grudge41 no expense for the school, and I propose to drink their health. . . .”
“For my part,” said Bruni, jumping up as though he had been stung, “I propose a toast to the health of the honoured inspector of elementary schools, Pavel Gennadievitch Nadarov!”
Chairs were pushed back, faces beamed with smiles, and the usual clinking of glasses began.
The third toast always fell to Sysoev. And on this occasion, too, he got up and began to speak. Looking grave and clearing his throat, he first of all announced that he had not the gift of eloquence42 and that he was not prepared to make a speech. Further he said that during the fourteen years that he had been schoolmaster there had been many intrigues43, many underhand attacks, and even secret reports on him to the authorities, and that he knew his enemies and those who had informed against him, and he would not mention their names, “for fear of spoiling somebody’s appetite”; that in spite of these intrigues the Kulikin school held the foremost place in the whole province not only from a moral, but also from a material point of view.”
“Everywhere else,” he said, “schoolmasters get two hundred or three hundred roubles, while I get five hundred, and moreover my house has been redecorated and even furnished at the expense of the firm. And this year all the walls have been repapered. . . .”
Further the schoolmaster enlarged on the liberality with which the pupils were provided with writing materials in the factory schools as compared with the Zemstvo and Government schools. And for all this the school was indebted, in his opinion, not to the heads of the firm, who lived abroad and scarcely knew of its existence, but to a man who, in spite of his German origin and Lutheran faith, was a Russian at heart.
Sysoev spoke44 at length, with pauses to get his breath and with pretensions45 to rhetoric46, and his speech was boring and unpleasant. He several times referred to certain enemies of his, tried to drop hints, repeated himself, coughed, and flourished his fingers unbecomingly. At last he was exhausted and in a perspiration and he began talking jerkily, in a low voice as though to himself, and finished his speech not quite coherently: “And so I propose the health of Bruni, that is Adolf Andreyitch, who is here, among us . . . generally speaking . . . you understand . . .”
When he finished everyone gave a faint sigh, as though someone had sprinkled cold water and cleared the air. Bruni alone apparently47 had no unpleasant feeling. Beaming and rolling his sentimental eyes, the German shook Sysoev’s hand with feeling and was again as friendly as a dog.
“Oh, I thank you,” he said, with an emphasis on the oh, laying his left hand on his heart. “I am very happy that you understand me! I, with my whole heart, wish you all things good. But I ought only to observe; you exaggerate my importance. The school owes its flourishing condition only to you, my honoured friend, Fyodor Lukitch. But for you it would be in no way distinguished48 from other schools! You think the German is paying a compliment, the German is saying something polite. Ha-ha! No, my dear Fyodor Lukitch, I am an honest man and never make complimentary49 speeches. If we pay you five hundred roubles a year it is because you are valued by us. Isn’t that so? Gentlemen, what I say is true, isn’t it? We should not pay anyone else so much. . . . Why, a good school is an honour to the factory!”
“I must sincerely own that your school is really exceptional,” said the inspector. “Don’t think this is flattery. Anyway, I have never come across another like it in my life. As I sat at the examination I was full of admiration50. . . . Wonderful children! They know a great deal and answer brightly, and at the same time they are somehow special, unconstrained, sincere. . . . One can see that they love you, Fyodor Lukitch. You are a schoolmaster to the marrow51 of your bones. You must have been born a teacher. You have all the gifts —innate vocation52, long experience, and love for your work. . . . It’s simply amazing, considering the weak state of your health, what energy, what understanding . . . what perseverance53, do you understand, what confidence you have! Some one in the school committee said truly that you were a poet in your work. . . . Yes, a poet you are!”
And all present at the dinner began as one man talking of Sysoev’s extraordinary talent. And as though a dam had been burst, there followed a flood of sincere, enthusiastic words such as men do not utter when they are restrained by prudent54 and cautious sobriety. Sysoev’s speech and his intolerable temper and the horrid55, spiteful expression on his face were all forgotten. Everyone talked freely, even the shy and silent new teachers, poverty-stricken, down-trodden youths who never spoke to the inspector without addressing him as “your honour.” It was clear that in his own circle Sysoev was a person of consequence.
Having been accustomed to success and praise for the fourteen years that he had been schoolmaster, he listened with indifference56 to the noisy enthusiasm of his admirers.
It was Bruni who drank in the praise instead of the schoolmaster. The German caught every word, beamed, clapped his hands, and flushed modestly as though the praise referred not to the schoolmaster but to him.
“Bravo! bravo!” he shouted. “That’s true! You have grasped my meaning! . . . Excellent! . . .” He looked into the schoolmaster’s eyes as though he wanted to share his bliss57 with him. At last he could restrain himself no longer; he leapt up, and, overpowering all the other voices with his shrill58 little tenor59, shouted:
“Gentlemen! Allow me to speak! Sh-h! To all you say I can make only one reply: the management of the factory will not be forgetful of what it owes to Fyodor Lukitch! . . .”
“We know how to appreciate it,” Bruni went on, dropping his voice. “In response to your words I ought to tell you that . . . Fyodor Lukitch’s family will be provided for and that a sum of money was placed in the bank a month ago for that object.”
Sysoev looked enquiringly at the German, at his colleagues, as though unable to understand why his family should be provided for and not he himself. And at once on all the faces, in all the motionless eyes bent61 upon him, he read not the sympathy, not the commiseration62 which he could not endure, but something else, something soft, tender, but at the same time intensely sinister63, like a terrible truth, something which in one instant turned him cold all over and filled his soul with unutterable despair. With a pale, distorted face he suddenly jumped up and clutched at his head. For a quarter of a minute he stood like that, stared with horror at a fixed64 point before him as though he saw the swiftly coming death of which Bruni was speaking, then sat down and burst into tears.
A short time passed and the schoolmaster grew calmer, but the party did not recover their previous liveliness. The dinner ended in gloomy silence, and much earlier than on previous occasions.
When he got home Sysoev first of all looked at himself in the glass.
“Of course there was no need for me to blubber like that!” he thought, looking at his sunken cheeks and his eyes with dark rings under them. “My face is a much better colour to-day than yesterday. I am suffering from anemia66 and catarrh of the stomach, and my cough is only a stomach cough.”
Reassured67, he slowly began undressing, and spent a long time brushing his new black suit, then carefully folded it up and put it in the chest of drawers.
Then he went up to the table where there lay a pile of his pupils’ exercise-books, and picking out Babkin’s, sat down and fell to contemplating68 the beautiful childish handwriting. . . .
And meantime, while he was examining the exercise-books, the district doctor was sitting in the next room and telling his wife in a whisper that a man ought not to have been allowed to go out to dinner who had not in all probability more than a week to live.
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1
inspector
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| n.检查员，监察员，视察员 | |
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meritorious
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| adj.值得赞赏的 | |
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amicably
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| adv.友善地 | |
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chattered
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| （人）喋喋不休( chatter的过去式 )； 唠叨； （牙齿）打战； （机器）震颤 | |
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hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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6
deafening
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| adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式 | |
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7
festive
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| adj.欢宴的，节日的 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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bustling
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| adj.喧闹的 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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displeased
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| a.不快的 | |
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vexed
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| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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13
dictate
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| v.口授；(使)听写；指令，指示，命令 | |
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dictating
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| v.大声讲或读( dictate的现在分词 )；口授；支配；摆布 | |
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15
mishap
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| n.不幸的事，不幸；灾祸 | |
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perspiration
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| n.汗水；出汗 | |
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adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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varnish
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| n.清漆；v.上清漆；粉饰 | |
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19
percolated
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| v.滤( percolate的过去式和过去分词 )；渗透；（思想等）渗透；渗入 | |
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twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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sentimental
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| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
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zealously
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| adv.热心地；热情地；积极地；狂热地 | |
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chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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dictated
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| v.大声讲或读( dictate的过去式和过去分词 )；口授；支配；摆布 | |
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acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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harping
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| n.反复述说 | |
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snarled
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| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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pester
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| v.纠缠，强求 | |
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invalid
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| n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的 | |
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regained
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| 复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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scripture
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| n.经文，圣书，手稿；Scripture:(常用复数)《圣经》，《圣经》中的一段 | |
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34
foppish
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| adj.矫饰的，浮华的 | |
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irritable
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| adj.急躁的；过敏的；易怒的 | |
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straightforward
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| adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的 | |
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riddles
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| n.谜（语）( riddle的名词复数 )；猜不透的难题，难解之谜 | |
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soothing
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| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
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wry
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| adj.讽刺的；扭曲的 | |
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wardens
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| n.看守人( warden的名词复数 )；管理员；监察员；监察官 | |
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grudge
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| n.不满，怨恨，妒嫉；vt.勉强给，不情愿做 | |
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eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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43
intrigues
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| n.密谋策划( intrigue的名词复数 )；神秘气氛；引人入胜的复杂情节v.搞阴谋诡计( intrigue的第三人称单数 )；激起…的好奇心 | |
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44
spoke
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| 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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45
pretensions
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| 自称( pretension的名词复数 )； 自命不凡； 要求； 权力 | |
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rhetoric
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| n.修辞学，浮夸之言语 | |
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47
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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48
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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49
complimentary
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| adj.赠送的，免费的，赞美的，恭维的 | |
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50
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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51
marrow
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| n.骨髓；精华；活力 | |
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52
vocation
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| n.职业，行业 | |
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53
perseverance
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| n.坚持不懈，不屈不挠 | |
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54
prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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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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indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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bliss
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| n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福 | |
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shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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tenor
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| n.男高音（歌手），次中音（乐器），要旨，大意 | |
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rosy
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| adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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commiseration
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| n.怜悯，同情 | |
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sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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anemia
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| n.贫血，贫血症 | |
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reassured
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| 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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contemplating
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| 深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想 | |
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