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VII A CIVILIAN AT AN ARMY POST
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THE army posts of the United States are as different one from another as the stations along the line of a great railroad system. There is the same organization for all, and the highest officers govern one as well as the other; but in appearance and degree of usefulness and local rule they are as independent and yet as dependent, and as far apart in actual miles, as the Grand Central Depot1 in New York, with its twenty tracks and as many ticket-windows and oak-bound offices and greatest after-dinner orator2, is distant from the section-house at the unfinished end of a road somewhere on the prairie. The commanding officer’s quarters alone at Fort Sheridan cost thirty thousand dollars, and more than a million and a half has been spent on Fort Riley; but there are many other posts where nature supplied the mud and logs for the whole station, and the cost to the Government could not have been more than three hundred dollars at the most. It is consequently difficult to write in a general way of army posts. What is true of one is by no means true of another, and it will be better, perhaps, to first tell of those army posts which possess many features in common—eight-company posts, for instance, which are not too large nor too small, not too[186] near civilization, and yet not too far removed from the railroad. An eight-company post is a little town or community of about three hundred people living in a quadrangle around a parade-ground. The scenery surrounding the quadrangle may differ as widely as you please to imagine it; it may be mountainous and beautiful, or level, flat, and unprofitable, but the parade-ground is always the same. It has a flag-pole at the entrance to the quadrangle, and a base-ball diamond marked out on the side on which the men live, and tennis-courts towards the officers’ quarters. When you speak of the side of the square where the enlisted3 men live, you say “barracks,” and you refer to the officers’ share of the quadrangle as “the line.” In England you can safely say that an officer is living in barracks, but you must not say this of a United States officer; he lives in the third or fourth house up or down “the line.”
 
 
The barracks are a long continuous row of single-story buildings with covered porches facing the parade. They are generally painted an uncompromising brown, and are much more beautiful inside than out, especially the messrooms, where all the wood-work has been scrubbed so hard that the tables are worn almost to a concave surface. The architectural appearance of the officers’ quarters on the line differs in different posts; but each house of each individual post, whether it is a double or single house, is alike to the number of bricks in the walls and in the exact arrangement of the rooms. The wives of the officers may change the outer appearance of their homes by planting rose-bushes and ivy4 about the yards, but whenever they do, some other officer’s wife is immediately transferred from another post and “outranks” them, and they have to move farther down the line, and watch the new-comer plucking their roses, and reaping the harvest she has not sown. This rule also applies to new wall-paper, and the introduction at your own expense of open fireplaces, with blue and white tiles which will not come off or out when the new-comer moves in. In addition to the officers’ quarters and the barracks, there is an administration building, which is the executive mansion5 of this little community, a quartermaster’s storehouse, a guard-house, and the hospital. The stables are back of the barracks, out of sight of those who live facing the parade, and there is generally a rear-guard of little huts and houses occupied by sergeants7’ wives, who do the washing for the posts, and do it very well. This is, briefly8, the actual appearance of an army post—a quadrangle of houses, continuous and one-story high on two sides, and separate and two stories high on the other two sides, facing the parade, and occasionally surrounded by beautiful country.
 
The life of an army post, its internal arrangements, its necessary routine, and its expedients9 for breaking this routine pleasantly, cannot be dealt with so briefly; it is a delicate and extensive subject. It is impossible to separate the official and social life of an army post. The commanding officer does not lose that dignity which doth hedge him in when he and his orderly move from the administration building to his quarters, and it would obviously confuse matters if a second lieutenant10 bet him in the morning he could not put the red bail11 into the right-corner pocket, and in the evening at dress parade he should order the same lieutenant and his company into the lower right-hand corner of the parade at double-quick. This would tend to destroy discipline. And so, as far as the men of the post are concerned, the official and social life touch at many points. With the women, of course, it is different, although[190] there was a colonel’s wife not long ago who said to the officers’ wives assisting her to receive at a dance, “You will take your places, ladies, in order of rank.” I repeat this mild piece of gossip because it was the only piece of gossip I heard at any army post, which is interesting when one remembers the reputation given the army posts by one of their own people for that sort of thing.
 
The official head of the post is the commanding officer, he has under him eight “companies,” if they are infantry12, or “troops” if they are cavalry13, each commanded in turn by a captain, who has under him a first and second lieutenant, who rule in their turn numerous sergeants and corporals. There is also a major or two, two or three surgeons, who rank with the captains, and a quartermaster and an adjutant, who are selected from among the captains or lieutenants14 of the post, and who perform, in consequence, double duty. The majority of the officers are married; this is not a departmental regulation nor a general order, but it happens to be so. I visited one very large post in which every one was married except one girl, and a second lieutenant, who spoiled the natural sequel by being engaged to a girl somewhere else. And at the post I had visited before this there were ten unmarried and unengaged lieutenants, and no young women. It seems to me that this presents an unbalanced condition of affairs, which should be considered and adjusted by Congress even before the question of lineal promotion15.
 
 
It is true that the commanding officer is supposed to be the most important personage in an army post, but that is not so. He, as well as every one else in it, is ruled by a young person with a brass16 trumpet17, who apparently18 never sleeps, eats, or rests, and who spends his days tooting on his bugle19 in the middle of the parade in rainy and in sunny weather and through good and evil report. He sounds in all thirty-seven “calls” a day, and the garrison20 gets up and lies down, and eats, and waters the horses, and goes to church and school, and to horse exercise, and mounts guard, and drills recruits, and parades in full dress whenever he thinks they should. His prettiest call is reveille, which is sounded at half-past six in the morning. It is bright and spirited, and breathes promise and hope for the new day, and I personally liked it best because it meant that while I still had an hour to sleep, three hundred other men had to get up and clean cold guns and things in the semi-darkness. Next to the bugler21 in importance is the quartermaster. He is a captain or a first lieutenant with rare executive ability, and it is he who supplies the garrison with those things which make life bearable or luxurious22, and it is he who is responsible to the Government for every coat of whitewash23 on the stables, and for the new stove-lid furnished the cook of N Troop, Thirteenth Cavalry. He is the hardest-worked man in the post, although that would possibly be denied by every other officer in it; and he is supposed to be an authority on architecture, sanitary24 plumbing25, veterinary surgery, household furnishing from the kitchen range to the electric button on the front door, and to know all things concerning martial26 equipments from a sling-belt to an ambulance.
 
He is a wonderful man, and possessed27 of a vast and intricate knowledge, but his position in the post is very much like that of a base-ball umpire’s on the field, for he is never thanked if he does well, and is abused by every one on principle. And he is never free. At the very minute he is lifting the green mint to his lips, his host will say, “By-the-way, my striker tells me that last piece of stove-pipe[194] you furnished us does not fit by two inches; I don’t believe you looked at the dimensions;” and when he hastens to join the ladies for protection, he is saluted28 with an anxious chorus of inquiries29 as to when he is going to put that pane30 of glass in the second-story window, and where are those bricks for the new chimney. His worst enemies, however, lie far afield, for he wages constant war with those clerks at the Treasury31 Department at Washington who go over his accounts and papers, and who take keen and justifiable32 pride in making him answer for every fraction of a cent which he has left unexplained. The Government, for instance, furnishes his storehouse with a thousand boxes of baking-powder, valued at seventy dollars, or seven cents a box. If he sells three boxes for twenty-five cents—I am quoting an actual instance—the Treasury Department returns his papers, requesting him to explain who got the four cents, and is anxious to know what he means by it.
 
I once saw some tin roofs at a post; they had been broken in coming, and the quartermaster condemned33 them. That was a year ago, and his papers complaining about these tin roofs have been travelling back and forth34 between contractor35 and express agent and the department at Washington and the quartermaster ever since, and they now make up a bundle of seventy different papers. Sometimes the quartermaster defeats the Treasury Department; sometimes it requires him to pay money out of his own pocket. Three revolvers were stolen out of their rack once, and the post quartermaster was held responsible for their loss. He objected to paying the sum the Government required, and pointed36 out that the revolvers should have been properly locked in the rack. The Government replied that the lock furnished by it was perfect, and not to be tampered37 with or scoffed38 at, and that his excuse was puerile39. This quartermaster had a mechanic in his company, and he sent for the young man, and told him to go through the barracks and open all the locks he could. At the end of an hour every rack and soldier’s box in the post were burglarized, and the Government paid for the revolvers.
 
The post quartermaster’s only pleasure lies in his storehouse, and in the neatness and order in which he keeps his supplies. He dearly loves to lead the civilian40 visitor through these long rows of shelves, and say, while clutching at his elbow to prevent his escape, “You see, there are all the shovels41 in that corner; then over there I have the Sibley tents, and there on that shelf are the blouses, and next to them are the overcoats, and there are the canvas shoes, and on that shelf we keep matches, and down here, you see, are the boots. Everything is in its proper place.” At which you are to look interested, and say, “Ah, yes!” just as though you had expected to see the baking-powder mixed with the pith helmets, and the axe-handles and smoking-tobacco grouped together on the floor.
 
After the quartermaster, the adjutant, to the mind of the civilian at least, is the most superior being in the post. He is a lieutenant selected by the colonel to act as his conscience-keeper and letter-writer, and to convey his commands to the other officers. It is his proud privilege to sit in the colonel’s own room and sign papers, and to dictate42 others to his assistant non-coms, and it is one of his duties to oversee43 the guard-mount, and to pick out the smartest-looking soldier to act as the colonel’s orderly for the day. You must understand that as the colonel’s orderly does not have to remain on guard at night, the men detailed44 for guard duty vie with each other in presenting an appearance sufficiently45[198] brilliant to attract the adjutant’s eye, and as they all look exactly alike, the adjutant has to be careful. He sometimes spends five long minutes and much mental effort in going from one end of the ranks to the other to see if Number Three’s boots are better blacked than Number Two’s, and in trying to decide whether the fact that Murphy’s gunbarrel is oilier than Cronin’s should weigh against the fact that Cronin’s gloves are new, while Murphy’s are only fresh from the wash, both having tied on the condition of their cartridges46, which have been rubbed to look like silver, and which must be an entirely47 superfluous48 nicety to the Indian who may eventually be shot with them. This is one of the severest duties of an adjutant’s routine, and after having accompanied one of them through one of these prize exhibitions, I was relieved to hear him confess his defeat by telling the sergeant6 that Cronin and Murphy could toss for it. Another perquisite49 of the adjutant’s is his right to tell his brother officers at mess in a casual way that they must act as officer of the day or officer of the guard, or relieve Lieutenant Quay50 while he goes quail-hunting, or take charge of Captain Blank’s troop of raw recruits until the captain returns to their relief. To be able to do this to men who outrank you, and who are much older than yourself, and just as though the orders came from you direct, must be a great pleasure, especially as the others are not allowed the satisfaction of asking, “Who says I must?” or, “What’s the matter with your doing it yourself?” These are the officials of the post; the unofficials, the wives and the children, make the social life whatever it is.
 
There are many in the East who think life at an army post is one of discomfort51 and more or less monotony, relieved by petty gossip and flirtations. Of course one cannot tell in a short visit whether or not the life might become monotonous52, though one rather suspects it would, but the discomforts53 are quite balanced by other things which we cannot get in the city. Of jealousy54 and gossip I saw little. I was told by one officer’s wife that to the railroads was due the credit of the destruction of flirtations at garrisons55; and though I had heard of many great advances and changes of conditions and territories brought about by the coming of the railroads, this was the first time I had ever heard they had interfered56 with the course of more or less true love. She explained it by saying that in the days when army posts lay afar from the track of civilization the people were more dependent upon one another, and that then there may have existed Mrs. Hauksbees and Mrs. Knowles, but that to-day the railroads brought in fresh air and ideas from all over the country, and that the officers were constantly being exchanged, and others coming and going on detached service, and that visitors from the bigger outside world were appearing at all times.
 
The life impresses a stranger as such a peaceful sort of an existence that he thinks that must be its chief and great attraction, and that which makes the army people, as they call themselves, so well content. It sounds rather absurd to speak of an army post of all places in the world as peaceful; but the times are peaceful now, and there is not much work for the officers to do, and they enjoy that blessing57 which is only to be found in the army and in the Church of Rome—of having one’s life laid out for one by others, and in doing what one is told, and in not having to decide things for one’s self. You are sure of your home, of your income, and you know exactly what is going to be your work a month or five years later. You are not dependent[202] on the rise of a certain stock, nor the slave of patients or clients, and you have more or less responsibility according to your rank, and responsibility is a thing every man loves. If he has that, and his home and children, a number of congenial people around him, and good hunting and fishing, it would seem easy for him to be content. It is different with his wife. She may unconsciously make life very pleasant for her husband or very uncomfortable, in ways that other women may not. If she leaves him and visits the East to see the new gowns, or the new operas, or her own people, she is criticised as not possessing a truly wifely spirit, and her husband is secretly pitied; and he knows it, and resents it for his wife’s sake. While, on the other hand, if she remains59 always at the post, he is called a selfish fellow, and his wife’s people at home in the East think ill of him for keeping her all to himself in that wilderness60.
 
The most surprising thing about the frontier army posts, to my mind, was the amount of comfort and the number of pretty trifles one found in the houses, especially when one considered the distance these trifles—such as billiard-tables for the club or canteen, and standing-lamps for the houses on the line—had come. At several dinners, at posts I had only reached after two days’ journey by stage, the tables were set exactly as they would have been in New York City with Sherry’s men in the kitchen. There were red candle-shades, and salted almonds and ferns in silver centre-pieces, and more forks than one ever knows what to do with, and all the rest of it. I hope the army people will not resent this, and proudly ask, “What did he expect to find?” but I am sure that is not the idea of a frontier post we have received in the East. There was also something delightfully61 novel in the table-talk, and in hearing one pretty, slight woman, in a smart décolleté gown, casually63 tell how her husband and his men had burned the prairie grass around her children and herself, and turned aside a prairie fire that towered and roared around them, and another of how her first child had been seized with convulsions in a stage-coach when they were snow-bound eighty miles from the post and fifty miles from the nearest city, and how she borrowed a clasp-knife from one of the passengers with which he had been cutting tobacco, and lanced the baby’s gums, and so saved his life. There was another hostess who startled us by saying, cheerfully, that the month of June at her last post was the most unpleasant in the year, because it was so warm that it sometimes spoiled the ice for skating, and that the snow in April reached to the sloping eaves of the house; also the daughter of an Indian fighter, while pouring out at a tea one day, told calmly of an Indian who had sprung at her with a knife, and seized her horse’s head, and whom she had shaken off by lashing64 the pony65 on to his hind66 legs. She could talk the Sioux language fluently, and had lived for the greater part of her life eight hundred miles from a railroad. Is it any wonder you find all the men in an army post married when there are women who can adapt themselves as gracefully67 to snow-shoes at Fort Brady as to the serious task of giving dinners at Fort Houston?
 
Fort Sam Houston at San Antonio is one of the three largest posts in the country, and is in consequence one of the heavens towards which the eyes of the army people turn. It is only twenty minutes from the city, and the weather is mild throughout the year, and in the summer there are palm-trees around the houses; and white uniforms—which are unknown to the posts farther north, and[206] which are as pretty as they are hard to keep clean—make the parade-ground look like a cricket-field. They have dances at this post twice a month, the regimental band furnishing the music, and the people from town helping68 out the sets, and the officers in uniforms with red, white, and yellow stripes. A military ball is always very pretty, and the dancing-hall at Houston is decorated on such occasions with guidons and flags, and palms and broad-leaved plants, which grow luxuriously69 everywhere, and cost nothing. I went directly from this much-desired post to the little one at Oklahoma City, which is a one-company post, and where there are no semi-monthly dances or serenades by the band; but where, on the other hand, the officers do not stumble over an enlisted man at every step who has to be saluted, and who stands still before them, as though he meant to “hold them up” or ask his way, until he is recognized. The post at Oklahoma City is not so badly off, even though it is built of logs and mud, for the town is near by, and the men get leave to visit it when they wish. But it serves to give one an idea of the many other one-company posts scattered70 in lonely distances along the borders of the frontier, where there are no towns, and where every man knows what the next man is going to say before he speaks—single companies which the Government has dropped out there, and which it has apparently forgotten, as a man forgets the book he has tucked away in his shelf to read on some rainy day. They will probably find they are remembered when the rainy days come. Fort Sill, in the Oklahoma Territory, is one of the eight-company posts. I visited several of these, and liked them better than those nearer the cities; but then I was not stationed there. The people at these smaller isolated71 posts seem to live more contentedly72 together. There is not enough of them to separate into cliques73 or sets, as they did at the larger stations, and they were more dependent one upon another. There was a night when one officer on the line gave a supper, and another (one of his guests) said he wished to contribute the cigars. There had not been an imported cigar in that post for a year at least, and when Captain Ellis brought in a fresh box with two paper stamps about it, and the little steamer engraved74 on the gray band met our eyes, and we knew they had paid the customs duty, there was a most unseemly cheer and undignified haste to have the box opened. And then each man laid his cigar beside his plate, and gazed and sniffed75 at it, and said “Ah!” and beamed on every one else, and put off lighting76 it as long as he possibly could. That was a memorable77 night, and I shall never sufficiently thank Captain Ellis for that cigar, and for showing me how little we of the East appreciate the little things we have always with us, and which become so important when they are taken away.
 
Fort Sill is really a summer resort; at least, that is what the officers say. I was not there in summer, but it made a most delightful62 winter resort. There is really no reason at all why people should not go to these interior army posts, as well as to the one at Point Comfort, and spend the summer or winter there, either for their health or for their pleasure. They can reach Fort Sill, for instance, in a three-days’ journey from New York, and then there are two days of staging, and you are in a beautiful valley, with rivers running over rocky beds, with the most picturesque78 Indians all about you, and with red and white flags wigwagging from the parade to the green mountain-tops, and good[210] looking boy-officers to explain the new regulations, and the best of hunting and fishing.
 
I do not know how the people of Fort Sill will like having their home advertised in this way, but it seems a pity others should not enjoy following Colonel Jones over the prairie after jack-rabbits. We started four of them in one hour, and that is a very good sport when you have a field of twenty men and women and a pack of good hounds. The dogs of Colonel Jones were not as fast as the rabbits, but they were faster than the horses, and so neither dogs nor rabbits were hurt; and that is as it should be, for, as Colonel Jones says, if you caught the rabbits, there would be no more rabbits to catch. Of the serious side of the[211] life of an army post, of the men and of the families of the men who are away on dangerous field service, I have said nothing, because there was none of it when I was there, nor of the privations of those posts up in the far Northwest, where snow and ice are almost a yearly accompaniment, and where the mail and the papers, which are such a mockery as an exchange for the voices of real people, come only twice a month.
 
It would be an incomplete story of life at a post which said nothing of the visits of homesickness, which, many strong men in the West have confessed to me, is the worst sickness with which man is cursed. And it is an illness which comes at irregular periods to those of the men who know and who love the East. It is not a homesickness for one home or for one person, but a case of that madness which seized Private Ortheris, only in a less malignant79 form, and in the officers’ quarters. An impotent protest against the immutability80 of time and of space is one of its symptoms—a sick disgust of the blank prairie, blackened by fire as though it had been drenched81 with ink, the bare parade-ground, the same faces, the same stories, the same routine and detailed life, which promises no change or end; and with these a longing82 for streets and rows of houses that seemed commonplace before, of architecture which they had dared to criticise58, and which now seems fairer than the lines of the Parthenon, a craving83 to get back to a place where people, whether one knows them or not, are hurrying home from work under the electric lights, to the rush of the passing hansoms and the cries of the “last editions,” and the glare of the shop-windows, to the life of a great city that is as careless of the exile’s love for it as is the ocean to one who exclaims upon its grandeur84 from the[212] shore; a soreness of heart which makes men while it lasts put familiar photographs out of sight, which makes the young lieutenants, when the band plays a certain waltz on the parade at sundown, bite their chin-straps, and stare ahead more fixedly85 than the regulations require. Some officers will confess this to you, and some will not. It is a question which is the happier, he who has no other scenes for which to care, and who is content, or he who eats his heart out for a while, and goes back on leave at last.
 
 
 

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1 depot Rwax2     
n.仓库,储藏处;公共汽车站;火车站
参考例句:
  • The depot is only a few blocks from here.公共汽车站离这儿只有几个街区。
  • They leased the building as a depot.他们租用这栋大楼作仓库。
2 orator hJwxv     
n.演说者,演讲者,雄辩家
参考例句:
  • He was so eloquent that he cut down the finest orator.他能言善辩,胜过最好的演说家。
  • The orator gestured vigorously while speaking.这位演讲者讲话时用力地做手势。
3 enlisted 2d04964099d0ec430db1d422c56be9e2     
adj.应募入伍的v.(使)入伍, (使)参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 );获得(帮助或支持)
参考例句:
  • enlisted men and women 男兵和女兵
  • He enlisted with the air force to fight against the enemy. 他应募加入空军对敌作战。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
4 ivy x31ys     
n.常青藤,常春藤
参考例句:
  • Her wedding bouquet consisted of roses and ivy.她的婚礼花篮包括玫瑰和长春藤。
  • The wall is covered all over with ivy.墙上爬满了常春藤。
5 mansion 8BYxn     
n.大厦,大楼;宅第
参考例句:
  • The old mansion was built in 1850.这座古宅建于1850年。
  • The mansion has extensive grounds.这大厦四周的庭园广阔。
6 sergeant REQzz     
n.警官,中士
参考例句:
  • His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
  • How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹?
7 sergeants c7d22f6a91d2c5f9f5a4fd4d5721dfa0     
警官( sergeant的名词复数 ); (美国警察)警佐; (英国警察)巡佐; 陆军(或空军)中士
参考例句:
  • Platoon sergeants fell their men in on the barrack square. 排长们在营房广场上整顿队伍。
  • The recruits were soon licked into shape by the drill sergeants. 新兵不久便被教育班长训练得象样了。
8 briefly 9Styo     
adv.简单地,简短地
参考例句:
  • I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
  • He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。
9 expedients c0523c0c941d2ed10c86887a57ac874f     
n.应急有效的,权宜之计的( expedient的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • He is full of [fruitful in] expedients. 他办法多。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • Perhaps Calonne might return too, with fresh financial expedients. 或许卡洛纳也会回来,带有新的财政机谋。 来自辞典例句
10 lieutenant X3GyG     
n.陆军中尉,海军上尉;代理官员,副职官员
参考例句:
  • He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
  • He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官,递上了一张简短的便条进去。
11 bail Aupz4     
v.舀(水),保释;n.保证金,保释,保释人
参考例句:
  • One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
  • She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。
12 infantry CbLzf     
n.[总称]步兵(部队)
参考例句:
  • The infantry were equipped with flame throwers.步兵都装备有喷火器。
  • We have less infantry than the enemy.我们的步兵比敌人少。
13 cavalry Yr3zb     
n.骑兵;轻装甲部队
参考例句:
  • We were taken in flank by a troop of cavalry. 我们翼侧受到一队骑兵的袭击。
  • The enemy cavalry rode our men down. 敌人的骑兵撞倒了我们的人。
14 lieutenants dc8c445866371477a093185d360992d9     
n.陆军中尉( lieutenant的名词复数 );副职官员;空军;仅低于…官阶的官员
参考例句:
  • In the army, lieutenants are subordinate to captains. 在陆军中,中尉是上尉的下级。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • Lieutenants now cap at 1.5 from 1. Recon at 1. 中尉现在由1人口增加的1.5人口。侦查小组成员为1人口。 来自互联网
15 promotion eRLxn     
n.提升,晋级;促销,宣传
参考例句:
  • The teacher conferred with the principal about Dick's promotion.教师与校长商谈了迪克的升级问题。
  • The clerk was given a promotion and an increase in salary.那个职员升了级,加了薪。
16 brass DWbzI     
n.黄铜;黄铜器,铜管乐器
参考例句:
  • Many of the workers play in the factory's brass band.许多工人都在工厂铜管乐队中演奏。
  • Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。
17 trumpet AUczL     
n.喇叭,喇叭声;v.吹喇叭,吹嘘
参考例句:
  • He plays the violin, but I play the trumpet.他拉提琴,我吹喇叭。
  • The trumpet sounded for battle.战斗的号角吹响了。
18 apparently tMmyQ     
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎
参考例句:
  • An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽,豁然开朗。
  • He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。
19 bugle RSFy3     
n.军号,号角,喇叭;v.吹号,吹号召集
参考例句:
  • When he heard the bugle call, he caught up his gun and dashed out.他一听到军号声就抓起枪冲了出去。
  • As the bugle sounded we ran to the sports ground and fell in.军号一响,我们就跑到运动场集合站队。
20 garrison uhNxT     
n.卫戍部队;驻地,卫戍区;vt.派(兵)驻防
参考例句:
  • The troops came to the relief of the besieged garrison.军队来援救被围的守备军。
  • The German was moving to stiffen up the garrison in Sicily.德军正在加强西西里守军之力量。
21 bugler e1bce9dcca8842895d1f03cfacb4cf41     
喇叭手; 号兵; 吹鼓手; 司号员
参考例句:
  • The general ordered the bugler to sound the retreat. 将军命令号手吹号收兵。
  • There was nothing faded about the bugler under the cap. 帽子下面那个号手可一点也不是褪色的。
22 luxurious S2pyv     
adj.精美而昂贵的;豪华的
参考例句:
  • This is a luxurious car complete with air conditioning and telephone.这是一辆附有空调设备和电话的豪华轿车。
  • The rich man lives in luxurious surroundings.这位富人生活在奢侈的环境中。
23 whitewash 3gYwJ     
v.粉刷,掩饰;n.石灰水,粉刷,掩饰
参考例句:
  • They tried hard to whitewash themselves.他们力图粉饰自己。
  • What he said was a load of whitewash.他所说的是一大堆粉饰之词。
24 sanitary SCXzF     
adj.卫生方面的,卫生的,清洁的,卫生的
参考例句:
  • It's not sanitary to let flies come near food.让苍蝇接近食物是不卫生的。
  • The sanitary conditions in this restaurant are abominable.这家饭馆的卫生状况糟透了。
25 plumbing klaz0A     
n.水管装置;水暖工的工作;管道工程v.用铅锤测量(plumb的现在分词);探究
参考例句:
  • She spent her life plumbing the mysteries of the human psyche. 她毕生探索人类心灵的奥秘。
  • They're going to have to put in new plumbing. 他们将需要安装新的水管。 来自《简明英汉词典》
26 martial bBbx7     
adj.战争的,军事的,尚武的,威武的
参考例句:
  • The sound of martial music is always inspiring.军乐声总是鼓舞人心的。
  • The officer was convicted of desertion at a court martial.这名军官在军事法庭上被判犯了擅离职守罪。
27 possessed xuyyQ     
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的
参考例句:
  • He flew out of the room like a man possessed.他像着了魔似地猛然冲出房门。
  • He behaved like someone possessed.他行为举止像是魔怔了。
28 saluted 1a86aa8dabc06746471537634e1a215f     
v.欢迎,致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 );赞扬,赞颂
参考例句:
  • The sergeant stood to attention and saluted. 中士立正敬礼。
  • He saluted his friends with a wave of the hand. 他挥手向他的朋友致意。 来自《简明英汉词典》
29 inquiries 86a54c7f2b27c02acf9fcb16a31c4b57     
n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 );疑问;探究;打听
参考例句:
  • He was released on bail pending further inquiries. 他获得保释,等候进一步调查。
  • I have failed to reach them by postal inquiries. 我未能通过邮政查询与他们取得联系。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
30 pane OKKxJ     
n.窗格玻璃,长方块
参考例句:
  • He broke this pane of glass.他打破了这块窗玻璃。
  • Their breath bloomed the frosty pane.他们呼出的水气,在冰冷的窗玻璃上形成一层雾。
31 treasury 7GeyP     
n.宝库;国库,金库;文库
参考例句:
  • The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
  • This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。
32 justifiable a3ExP     
adj.有理由的,无可非议的
参考例句:
  • What he has done is hardly justifiable.他的所作所为说不过去。
  • Justifiable defense is the act being exempted from crimes.正当防卫不属于犯罪行为。
33 condemned condemned     
adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词
参考例句:
  • He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
  • The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。
34 forth Hzdz2     
adv.向前;向外,往外
参考例句:
  • The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
  • He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。
35 contractor GnZyO     
n.订约人,承包人,收缩肌
参考例句:
  • The Tokyo contractor was asked to kick $ 6000 back as commission.那个东京的承包商被要求退还6000美元作为佣金。
  • The style of house the contractor builds depends partly on the lay of the land.承包商所建房屋的式样,有几分要看地势而定。
36 pointed Il8zB4     
adj.尖的,直截了当的
参考例句:
  • He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
  • She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。
37 tampered 07b218b924120d49a725c36b06556000     
v.窜改( tamper的过去式 );篡改;(用不正当手段)影响;瞎摆弄
参考例句:
  • The records of the meeting had been tampered with. 会议记录已被人擅自改动。 来自辞典例句
  • The old man's will has been tampered with. 老人的遗嘱已被窜改。 来自辞典例句
38 scoffed b366539caba659eacba33b0867b6de2f     
嘲笑,嘲弄( scoff的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • He scoffed at our amateurish attempts. 他对我们不在行的尝试嗤之以鼻。
  • A hundred years ago people scoffed at the idea. 一百年前人们曾嘲笑过这种想法。
39 puerile 70Vza     
adj.幼稚的,儿童的
参考例句:
  • The story is simple,even puerile.故事很简单,甚至有些幼稚。
  • Concert organisers branded the group's actions as puerile.音乐会的组织者指称该乐队的行为愚蠢幼稚。
40 civilian uqbzl     
adj.平民的,民用的,民众的
参考例句:
  • There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
  • He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。
41 shovels ff43a4c7395f1d0c2d5931bbb7a97da6     
n.铲子( shovel的名词复数 );锹;推土机、挖土机等的)铲;铲形部份v.铲子( shovel的第三人称单数 );锹;推土机、挖土机等的)铲;铲形部份
参考例句:
  • workmen with picks and shovels 手拿镐铲的工人
  • In the spring, we plunge shovels into the garden plot, turn under the dark compost. 春天,我们用铁锨翻开园子里黑油油的沃土。 来自辞典例句
42 dictate fvGxN     
v.口授;(使)听写;指令,指示,命令
参考例句:
  • It took him a long time to dictate this letter.口述这封信花了他很长时间。
  • What right have you to dictate to others?你有什么资格向别人发号施令?
43 oversee zKMxr     
vt.监督,管理
参考例句:
  • Soldiers oversee the food handouts.士兵们看管着救济食品。
  • Use a surveyor or architect to oversee and inspect the different stages of the work.请一位房产检视员或建筑师来监督并检查不同阶段的工作。
44 detailed xuNzms     
adj.详细的,详尽的,极注意细节的,完全的
参考例句:
  • He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
  • A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。
45 sufficiently 0htzMB     
adv.足够地,充分地
参考例句:
  • It turned out he had not insured the house sufficiently.原来他没有给房屋投足保险。
  • The new policy was sufficiently elastic to accommodate both views.新政策充分灵活地适用两种观点。
46 cartridges 17207f2193d1e05c4c15f2938c82898d     
子弹( cartridge的名词复数 ); (打印机的)墨盒; 录音带盒; (唱机的)唱头
参考例句:
  • computer consumables such as disks and printer cartridges 如磁盘、打印机墨盒之类的电脑耗材
  • My new video game player came with three game cartridges included. 我的新电子游戏机附有三盘游戏带。
47 entirely entirely     
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地
参考例句:
  • The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
  • His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。
48 superfluous EU6zf     
adj.过多的,过剩的,多余的
参考例句:
  • She fined away superfluous matter in the design. 她删去了这图案中多余的东西。
  • That request seemed superfluous when I wrote it.我这样写的时候觉得这个请求似乎是多此一举。
49 perquisite KMgxG     
n.固定津贴,福利
参考例句:
  • Perquisites include the use of the company car.福利包括可以使用公司的汽车。
  • Politics in Britain used to be the perquisite of the property-owning classes.英国的政治以往是有产阶级的特权。
50 quay uClyc     
n.码头,靠岸处
参考例句:
  • There are all kinds of ships in a quay.码头停泊各式各样的船。
  • The side of the boat hit the quay with a grinding jar.船舷撞到码头发出刺耳的声音。
51 discomfort cuvxN     
n.不舒服,不安,难过,困难,不方便
参考例句:
  • One has to bear a little discomfort while travelling.旅行中总要忍受一点不便。
  • She turned red with discomfort when the teacher spoke.老师讲话时她不好意思地红着脸。
52 monotonous FwQyJ     
adj.单调的,一成不变的,使人厌倦的
参考例句:
  • She thought life in the small town was monotonous.她觉得小镇上的生活单调而乏味。
  • His articles are fixed in form and monotonous in content.他的文章千篇一律,一个调调儿。
53 discomforts 21153f1ed6fc87cfc0ae735005583b36     
n.不舒适( discomfort的名词复数 );不愉快,苦恼
参考例句:
  • Travellers in space have to endure many discomforts in their rockets. 宇宙旅行家不得不在火箭中忍受许多不舒适的东西 来自《用法词典》
  • On that particular morning even these discomforts added to my pleasure. 在那样一个特定的早晨,即使是这种种的不舒适也仿佛给我增添了满足感。 来自辞典例句
54 jealousy WaRz6     
n.妒忌,嫉妒,猜忌
参考例句:
  • Some women have a disposition to jealousy.有些女人生性爱妒忌。
  • I can't support your jealousy any longer.我再也无法忍受你的嫉妒了。
55 garrisons 2d60797bf40523f40bc263dfaec1c6c8     
守备部队,卫戍部队( garrison的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • I've often seen pictures of such animals at the garrisons. 在要塞里,我经常看到这种动物的画片。
  • Use a Black Hand to garrisons, and take it for yourself. 用黑手清空驻守得步兵,为自己占一个。
56 interfered 71b7e795becf1adbddfab2cd6c5f0cff     
v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 );调停;妨碍;干涉
参考例句:
  • Complete absorption in sports interfered with his studies. 专注于运动妨碍了他的学业。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • I am not going to be interfered with. 我不想别人干扰我的事情。 来自《简明英汉词典》
57 blessing UxDztJ     
n.祈神赐福;祷告;祝福,祝愿
参考例句:
  • The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。
  • A double blessing has descended upon the house.双喜临门。
58 criticise criticise     
v.批评,评论;非难
参考例句:
  • Right and left have much cause to criticise government.左翼和右翼有很多理由批评政府。
  • It is not your place to criticise or suggest improvements!提出批评或给予改进建议并不是你的责任!
59 remains 1kMzTy     
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹
参考例句:
  • He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
  • The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。
60 wilderness SgrwS     
n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等,荒漠
参考例句:
  • She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
  • Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。
61 delightfully f0fe7d605b75a4c00aae2f25714e3131     
大喜,欣然
参考例句:
  • The room is delightfully appointed. 这房子的设备令人舒适愉快。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • The evening is delightfully cool. 晚间凉爽宜人。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
62 delightful 6xzxT     
adj.令人高兴的,使人快乐的
参考例句:
  • We had a delightful time by the seashore last Sunday.上星期天我们在海滨玩得真痛快。
  • Peter played a delightful melody on his flute.彼得用笛子吹奏了一支欢快的曲子。
63 casually UwBzvw     
adv.漠不关心地,无动于衷地,不负责任地
参考例句:
  • She remarked casually that she was changing her job.她当时漫不经心地说要换工作。
  • I casually mentioned that I might be interested in working abroad.我不经意地提到我可能会对出国工作感兴趣。
64 lashing 97a95b88746153568e8a70177bc9108e     
n.鞭打;痛斥;大量;许多v.鞭打( lash的现在分词 );煽动;紧系;怒斥
参考例句:
  • The speaker was lashing the crowd. 演讲人正在煽动人群。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The rain was lashing the windows. 雨急打着窗子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
65 pony Au5yJ     
adj.小型的;n.小马
参考例句:
  • His father gave him a pony as a Christmas present.他父亲给了他一匹小马驹作为圣诞礼物。
  • They made him pony up the money he owed.他们逼他还债。
66 hind Cyoya     
adj.后面的,后部的
参考例句:
  • The animal is able to stand up on its hind limbs.这种动物能够用后肢站立。
  • Don't hind her in her studies.不要在学业上扯她后腿。
67 gracefully KfYxd     
ad.大大方方地;优美地
参考例句:
  • She sank gracefully down onto a cushion at his feet. 她优雅地坐到他脚旁的垫子上。
  • The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line. 新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。
68 helping 2rGzDc     
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的
参考例句:
  • The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
  • By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。
69 luxuriously 547f4ef96080582212df7e47e01d0eaf     
adv.奢侈地,豪华地
参考例句:
  • She put her nose luxuriously buried in heliotrope and tea roses. 她把自己的鼻子惬意地埋在天芥菜和庚申蔷薇花簇中。 来自辞典例句
  • To be well dressed doesn't mean to be luxuriously dressed. 穿得好不一定衣着豪华。 来自辞典例句
70 scattered 7jgzKF     
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的
参考例句:
  • Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来,塞进文件夹里。
71 isolated bqmzTd     
adj.与世隔绝的
参考例句:
  • His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
  • Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。
72 contentedly a0af12176ca79b27d4028fdbaf1b5f64     
adv.心满意足地
参考例句:
  • My father sat puffing contentedly on his pipe.父亲坐着心满意足地抽着烟斗。
  • "This is brother John's writing,"said Sally,contentedly,as she opened the letter.
73 cliques 5c4ad705fea1aae5fc295ede865b8921     
n.小集团,小圈子,派系( clique的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • All traitorous persons and cliques came to no good end. 所有的叛徒及叛徒集团都没好下场。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • They formed cliques and carried arms expansion and war preparations. 他们拉帮结派,扩军备战。 来自互联网
74 engraved be672d34fc347de7d97da3537d2c3c95     
v.在(硬物)上雕刻(字,画等)( engrave的过去式和过去分词 );将某事物深深印在(记忆或头脑中)
参考例句:
  • The silver cup was engraved with his name. 银杯上刻有他的名字。
  • It was prettily engraved with flowers on the back. 此件雕刻精美,背面有花饰图案。 来自《简明英汉词典》
75 sniffed ccb6bd83c4e9592715e6230a90f76b72     
v.以鼻吸气,嗅,闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 );抽鼻子(尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气);抱怨,不以为然地说
参考例句:
  • When Jenney had stopped crying she sniffed and dried her eyes. 珍妮停止了哭泣,吸了吸鼻子,擦干了眼泪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The dog sniffed suspiciously at the stranger. 狗疑惑地嗅着那个陌生人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
76 lighting CpszPL     
n.照明,光线的明暗,舞台灯光
参考例句:
  • The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
  • The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。
77 memorable K2XyQ     
adj.值得回忆的,难忘的,特别的,显著的
参考例句:
  • This was indeed the most memorable day of my life.这的确是我一生中最值得怀念的日子。
  • The veteran soldier has fought many memorable battles.这个老兵参加过许多难忘的战斗。
78 picturesque qlSzeJ     
adj.美丽如画的,(语言)生动的,绘声绘色的
参考例句:
  • You can see the picturesque shores beside the river.在河边你可以看到景色如画的两岸。
  • That was a picturesque phrase.那是一个形象化的说法。
79 malignant Z89zY     
adj.恶性的,致命的;恶意的,恶毒的
参考例句:
  • Alexander got a malignant slander.亚历山大受到恶意的诽谤。
  • He started to his feet with a malignant glance at Winston.他爬了起来,不高兴地看了温斯顿一眼。
80 immutability Camx4     
n.不变(性)
参考例句:
  • Farmers all over the globe knowinging the importance and immutability the seasons. 全全地球的农民们都明白季节的很重要性和永恒性。
  • The immutability of God is a strong ground of consolation and encourages hope and confidence. 上帝的不变性乃是我们安慰的坚固根基,鼓励我们充满著盼望,信心。
81 drenched cu0zJp     
adj.湿透的;充满的v.使湿透( drench的过去式和过去分词 );在某人(某物)上大量使用(某液体)
参考例句:
  • We were caught in the storm and got drenched to the skin. 我们遇上了暴雨,淋得浑身透湿。
  • The rain drenched us. 雨把我们淋得湿透。 来自《简明英汉词典》
82 longing 98bzd     
n.(for)渴望
参考例句:
  • Hearing the tune again sent waves of longing through her.再次听到那首曲子使她胸中充满了渴望。
  • His heart burned with longing for revenge.他心中燃烧着急欲复仇的怒火。
83 craving zvlz3e     
n.渴望,热望
参考例句:
  • a craving for chocolate 非常想吃巧克力
  • She skipped normal meals to satisfy her craving for chocolate and crisps. 她不吃正餐,以便满足自己吃巧克力和炸薯片的渴望。
84 grandeur hejz9     
n.伟大,崇高,宏伟,庄严,豪华
参考例句:
  • The grandeur of the Great Wall is unmatched.长城的壮观是独一无二的。
  • These ruins sufficiently attest the former grandeur of the place.这些遗迹充分证明此处昔日的宏伟。
85 fixedly 71be829f2724164d2521d0b5bee4e2cc     
adv.固定地;不屈地,坚定不移地
参考例句:
  • He stared fixedly at the woman in white. 他一直凝视着那穿白衣裳的女人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The great majority were silent and still, looking fixedly at the ground. 绝大部分的人都不闹不动,呆呆地望着地面。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记


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