JOHN AMHERST was no one-sided idealist. He felt keenly the growing complexity1 of the relation between employer and worker, the seeming hopelessness of permanently2 harmonizing their claims, the recurring3 necessity of fresh compromises and adjustments. He hated rant4, demagogy, the rash formulating5 of emotional theories; and his contempt for bad logic6 and subjective7 judgments8 led him to regard with distrust the panaceas9 offered for the cure of economic evils. But his heart ached for the bitter throes with which the human machine moves on. He felt the menace of industrial conditions when viewed collectively, their poignancy10 when studied in the individual lives of the toilers among whom his lot was cast; and clearly as he saw the need of a philosophic12 survey of the question, he was sure that only through sympathy with its personal, human side could a solution be reached. The disappearance13 of the old familiar contact between master and man seemed to him one of the great wrongs of the new industrial situation. That the breach14 must be farther widened by the ultimate substitution of the stock-company for the individual employer--a fact obvious to any student of economic tendencies--presented to Amherst's mind one of the most painful problems in the scheme of social readjustment. But it was characteristic of him to dwell rather on the removal of immediate15 difficulties than in the contemplation of those to come, and while the individual employer was still to be reckoned with, the main thing was to bring him closer to his workers. Till he entered personally into their hardships and aspirations--till he learned what they wanted and why they wanted it--Amherst believed that no mere16 law-making, however enlightened, could create a wholesome17 relation between the two.
This feeling was uppermost as he sat with Mrs. Westmore in the carriage which was carrying them to the mills. He had meant to take the trolley18 back to Westmore, but at a murmured word from Mr. Tredegar Bessy had offered him a seat at her side, leaving others to follow. This culmination20 of his hopes--the unlooked-for chance of a half-hour alone with her--left Amherst oppressed with the swiftness of the minutes. He had so much to say--so much to prepare her for--yet how begin, while he was in utter ignorance of her character and her point of view, and while her lovely nearness left him so little chance of perceiving anything except itself?
But he was not often the victim of his sensations, and presently there emerged, out of the very consciousness of her grace and her completeness, a clearer sense of the conditions which, in a measure, had gone to produce them. Her dress could not have hung in such subtle folds, her white chin have nestled in such rich depths of fur, the pearls in her ears have given back the light from such pure curves, if thin shoulders in shapeless gingham had not bent21, day in, day out, above the bobbins and carders, and weary ears throbbed22 even at night with the tumult24 of the looms25. Amherst, however, felt no sensational26 resentment27 at the contrast. He had lived too much with ugliness and want not to believe in human nature's abiding28 need of their opposite. He was glad there was room for such beauty in the world, and sure that its purpose was an ameliorating one, if only it could be used as a beautiful spirit would use it.
The carriage had turned into one of the nondescript thoroughfares, half incipient30 street, half decaying lane, which dismally31 linked the mill-village to Hanaford. Bessy looked out on the ruts, the hoardings, the starved trees dangling32 their palsied leaves in the radiant October light; then she sighed: "What a good day for a gallop33!"
Amherst felt a momentary34 chill, but the naturalness of the exclamation35 disarmed36 him, and the words called up thrilling memories of his own college days, when he had ridden his grandfather's horses in the famous hunting valley not a hundred miles from Hanaford.
Bessy met his smile with a glow of understanding. "You like riding too, I'm sure?"
"I used to; but I haven't been in the saddle for years. Factory managers don't keep hunters," he said laughing.
Her murmur19 of embarrassment37 showed that she took this as an apologetic allusion38 to his reduced condition, and in his haste to correct this impression he added: "If I regretted anything in my other life, it would certainly be a gallop on a day like this; but I chose my trade deliberately39, and I've never been sorry for my choice."
He had hardly spoken when he felt the inappropriateness of this avowal41; but her prompt response showed him, a moment later, that it was, after all, the straightest way to his end.
"You find the work interesting? I'm sure it must be. You'll think me very ignorant--my husband and I came here so seldom...I feel as if I ought to know so much more about it," she explained.
At last the note for which he waited had been struck. "Won't you try to--now you're here? There's so much worth knowing," he broke out impetuously.
Mrs. Westmore coloured, but rather with surprise than displeasure. "I'm very stupid--I've no head for business--but I will try to," she said.
"It's not business that I mean; it's the personal relation--just the thing the business point of view leaves out. Financially, I don't suppose your mills could be better run; but there are over seven hundred women working in them, and there's so much to be done, just for them and their children."
He caught a faint hint of withdrawal43 in her tone. "I have always understood that Mr. Truscomb did everything----"
Amherst flushed; but he was beyond caring for the personal rebuff. "Do you leave it to your little girl's nurses to do everything for her?" he asked.
Her surprise seemed about to verge44 on annoyance45: he saw the preliminary ruffling46 of the woman who is put to the trouble of defending her dignity. "Really, I don't see--" she began with distant politeness; then her face changed and melted, and again her blood spoke40 for her before her lips.
"I am glad you told me that, Mr. Amherst. Of course I want to do whatever I can. I should like you to point out everything----"
Amherst's resolve had been taken while she spoke. He _would_ point out everything, would stretch his opportunity to its limit. All thoughts of personal prudence47 were flung to the winds--her blush and tone had routed the waiting policy. He would declare war on Truscomb at once, and take the chance of dismissal. At least, before he went he would have brought this exquisite48 creature face to face with the wrongs from which her luxuries were drawn49, and set in motion the regenerating50 impulses of indignation and pity. He did not stop to weigh the permanent advantage of this course. His only feeling was that the chance would never again be given him--that if he let her go away, back to her usual life, with eyes unopened and heart untouched, there would be no hope of her ever returning. It was far better that he should leave for good, and that she should come back, as come back she must, more and more often, if once she could be made to feel the crying need of her presence.
But where was he to begin? How give her even a glimpse of the packed and intricate situation?
"Mrs. Westmore," he said, "there's no time to say much now, but before we get to the mills I want to ask you a favour. If, as you go through them, you see anything that seems to need explaining, will you let me come and tell you about it tonight? I say tonight," he added, meeting her look of enquiry, "because later--tomorrow even--I might not have the chance. There are some things--a good many--in the management of the mills that Mr. Truscomb doesn't see as I do. I don't mean business questions: wages and dividends51 and so on--those are out of my province. I speak merely in the line of my own work--my care of the hands, and what I believe they need and don't get under the present system. Naturally, if Mr. Truscomb were well, I shouldn't have had this chance of putting the case to you; but since it's come my way, I must seize it and take the consequences."
Even as he spoke, by a swift reaction of thought, those consequences rose before him in all their seriousness. It was not only, or chiefly, that he feared to lose his place; though he knew his mother had not spoken lightly in instancing the case of the foreman whom Truscomb, to gratify a personal spite, had for months kept out of a job in his trade. And there were special reasons why Amherst should heed52 her warning. In adopting a manual trade, instead of one of the gentlemanly professions which the men of her family had always followed, he had not only disappointed her hopes, and to a great extent thrown away the benefits of the education she had pinched herself to give him, but had disturbed all the habits of her life by removing her from her normal surroundings to the depressing exile of a factory-settlement. However much he blamed himself for exacting53 this sacrifice, it had been made so cheerfully that the consciousness of it never clouded his life with his mother; but her self-effacement made him the more alive to his own obligations, and having placed her in a difficult situation he had always been careful not to increase its difficulties by any imprudence in his conduct toward his employers. Yet, grave as these considerations were, they were really less potent54 than his personal desire to remain at Westmore. Lightly as he had just resolved to risk the chance of dismissal, all his future was bound up in the hope of retaining his place. His heart was in the work at Westmore, and the fear of not being able to get other employment was a small factor in his intense desire to keep his post. What he really wanted was to speak out, and yet escape the consequences: by some miraculous55 reversal of probability to retain his position and yet effect Truscomb's removal. The idea was so fantastic that he felt it merely as a quickening of all his activities, a tremendous pressure of will along undetermined lines. He had no wish to take the manager's place; but his dream was to see Truscomb superseded56 by a man of the new school, in sympathy with the awakening57 social movement--a man sufficiently58 practical to "run" the mills successfully, yet imaginative enough to regard that task as the least of his duties. He saw the promise of such a man in Louis Duplain, the overseer who boarded with Mrs. Amherst: a young fellow of Alsatian extraction, a mill-hand from childhood, who had worked at his trade in Europe as well as in America, and who united with more manual skill, and a greater nearness to the workman's standpoint, all Amherst's enthusiasm for the experiments in social betterment that were making in some of the English and continental59 factories. His strongest wish was to see such a man as Duplain in control at Westmore before he himself turned to the larger work which he had begun to see before him as the sequel to his factory-training.
All these thoughts swept through him in the instant's pause before Mrs. Westmore, responding to his last appeal, said with a graceful60 eagerness: "Yes, you must come tonight. I want to hear all you can tell me--and if there is anything wrong you must show me how I can make it better."
"I'll show her, and Truscomb shan't turn me out for it," was the vow42 he passionately61 registered as the carriage drew up at the office-door of the main building.
How this impossible result was to be achieved he had no farther time to consider, for in another moment the rest of the party had entered the factory with them, and speech was followed up in the roar of the machinery62.
Amherst's zeal63 for his cause was always quickened by the sight of the mills in action. He loved the work itself as much as he hated the conditions under which it was done; and he longed to see on the operatives' faces something of the ardour that lit up his own when he entered the work-rooms. It was this passion for machinery that at school had turned him from his books, at college had drawn him to the courses least in the line of his destined64 profession; and it always seized on him afresh when he was face to face with the monstrous65 energies of the mills. It was not only the sense of power that thrilled him--he felt a beauty in the ordered activity of the whole intricate organism, in the rhythm of dancing bobbins and revolving66 cards, the swift continuous outpour of doublers and ribbon-laps, the steady ripple67 of the long ply-frames, the terrible gnashing play of the looms--all these varying subordinate motions, gathered up into the throb23 of the great engines which fed the giant's arteries68, and were in turn ruled by the invisible action of quick thought and obedient hands, always produced in Amherst a responsive rush of life.
He knew this sensation was too specialized69 to affect his companions; but he expected Mrs. Westmore to be all the more alive to the other side--the dark side of monotonous70 human toil11, of the banquet of flesh and blood and brain perpetually served up to the monster whose insatiable jaws71 the looms so grimly typified. Truscomb, as he had told her, was a good manager from the profit-taking standpoint. Since it was profitable to keep the machinery in order, he maintained throughout the factory a high standard of mechanical supervision72, except where one or two favoured overseers--for Truscomb was given to favoritism--shirked the duties of their departments. But it was of the essence of Truscomb's policy--and not the least of the qualities which made him a "paying" manager--that he saved money scrupulously73 where its outlay74 would not have resulted in larger earnings75. To keep the floors scrubbed, the cotton-dust swept up, the rooms freshly whitewashed76 and well-ventilated, far from adding the smallest fraction to the quarterly dividends, would have deducted77 from them the slight cost of this additional labour; and Truscomb therefore economized78 on scrubbers, sweepers and window-washers, and on all expenses connected with improved ventilation and other hygienic precautions. Though the whole factory was over-crowded, the newest buildings were more carefully planned, and had the usual sanitary79 improvements; but the old mills had been left in their original state, and even those most recently built were fast lapsing80 into squalor. It was no wonder, therefore, that workers imprisoned81 within such walls should reflect their long hours of deadening toil in dull eyes and an?mic skins, and in the dreary82 lassitude with which they bent to their tasks.
Surely, Amherst argued, Mrs. Westmore must feel this; must feel it all the more keenly, coming from an atmosphere so different, from a life where, as he instinctively83 divined, all was in harmony with her own graceful person. But a deep disappointment awaited him. He was still under the spell of their last moments in the carriage, when her face and voice had promised so much, when she had seemed so deeply, if vaguely84, stirred by his appeal. But as they passed from one resounding85 room to the other--from the dull throb of the carding-room, the groan86 of the ply-frames, the long steady pound of the slashers, back to the angry shriek87 of the fierce unappeasable looms--the light faded from her eyes and she looked merely bewildered and stunned88.
Amherst, hardened to the din29 of the factory, could not measure its effect on nerves accustomed to the subdued89 sounds and spacious90 stillnesses which are the last refinement91 of luxury. Habit had made him unconscious of that malicious92 multiplication93 and subdivision of noise that kept every point of consciousness vibrating to a different note, so that while one set of nerves was torn as with pincers by the dominant94 scream of the looms, others were thrilled with a separate pain by the ceaseless accompaniment of drumming, hissing95, grating and crashing that shook the great building. Amherst felt this tumult only as part of the atmosphere of the mills; and to ears trained like his own he could make his voice heard without difficulty. But his attempts at speech were unintelligible96 to Mrs. Westmore and her companions, and after vainly trying to communicate with him by signs they hurried on as if to escape as quickly as possible from the pursuing whirlwind.
Amherst could not allow for the depressing effect of this enforced silence. He did not see that if Bessy could have questioned him the currents of sympathy might have remained open between them, whereas, compelled to walk in silence through interminable ranks of meaningless machines, to which the human workers seemed mere automatic appendages97, she lost all perception of what the scene meant. He had forgotten, too, that the swift apprehension98 of suffering in others is as much the result of training as the immediate perception of beauty. Both perceptions may be inborn99, but if they are not they can be developed only through the discipline of experience.
"That girl in the hospital would have seen it all," he reflected, as the vision of Miss Brent's small incisive100 profile rose before him; but the next moment he caught the light on Mrs. Westmore's hair, as she bent above a card, and the paler image faded like a late moon in the sunrise.
Meanwhile Mrs. Ansell, seeing that the detailed101 inspection102 of the buildings was as trying to Mr. Langhope's lameness103 as to his daughter's nerves, had proposed to turn back with him and drive to Mrs. Amherst's, where he might leave her to call while the others were completing their rounds. It was one of Mrs. Ansell's gifts to detect the first symptoms of _ennui_ in her companions, and produce a remedy as patly as old ladies whisk out a scent-bottle or a cough-lozenge; and Mr. Langhope's look of relief showed the timeliness of her suggestion.
Amherst was too preoccupied104 to wonder how his mother would take this visit; but he welcomed Mr. Langhope's departure, hoping that the withdrawal of his ironic105 smile would leave his daughter open to gentler influences. Mr. Tredegar, meanwhile, was projecting his dry glance over the scene, trying to converse106 by signs with the overseers of the different rooms, and pausing now and then to contemplate107, not so much the workers themselves as the special tasks which engaged them.
How these spectators of the party's progress were affected108 by Mrs. Westmore's appearance, even Amherst, for all his sympathy with their views, could not detect. They knew that she was the new owner, that a disproportionate amount of the result of their toil would in future pass through her hands, spread carpets for her steps, and hang a setting of beauty about her eyes; but the knowledge seemed to produce no special interest in her personality. A change of employer was not likely to make any change in their lot: their welfare would probably continue to depend on Truscomb's favour. The men hardly raised their heads as Mrs. Westmore passed; the women stared, but with curiosity rather than interest; and Amherst could not tell whether their sullenness109 reacted on Mrs. Westmore, or whether they were unconsciously chilled by her indifference110. The result was the same: the distance between them seemed to increase instead of diminishing; and he smiled ironically to think of the form his appeal had taken--"If you see anything that seems to need explaining." Why, she saw nothing--nothing but the greasy111 floor under her feet, the cotton-dust in her eyes, the dizzy incomprehensible whirring of innumerable belts and wheels! Once out of it all, she would make haste to forget the dreary scene without pausing to ask for any explanation of its dreariness112.
In the intensity113 of his disappointment he sought a pretext114 to cut short the tour of the buildings, that he might remove his eyes from the face he had so vainly watched for any sign of awakening. And then, as he despaired of it, the change came.
They had entered the principal carding-room, and were half-way down its long central passage, when Mr. Tredegar, who led the procession, paused before one of the cards.
"What's that?" he asked, pointing to a ragged115 strip of black cloth tied conspicuously116 to the frame of the card.
The overseer of the room, a florid young man with dissipated eyes, who, at Amherst's signal, had attached himself to the party, stopped short and turned a furious glance on the surrounding operatives.
"What in hell...? It's the first I seen of it," he exclaimed, making an ineffectual attempt to snatch the mourning emblem117 from its place.
At the same instant the midday whistle boomed through the building, and at the signal the machinery stopped, and silence fell on the mills. The more distant workers at once left their posts to catch up the hats and coats heaped untidily in the corners; but those nearer by, attracted by the commotion118 around the card, stood spell-bound, fixing the visitors with a dull stare.
Amherst had reddened to the roots of his hair. He knew in a flash what the token signified, and the sight stirred his pity; but it also jarred on his strong sense of discipline, and he turned sternly to the operatives.
"What does this mean?"
There was a short silence; then one of the hands, a thin bent man with mystic eyes, raised his head and spoke.
"We done that for Dillon," he said.
Amherst's glance swept the crowded faces. "But Dillon was not killed," he exclaimed, while the overseer, drawing out his pen-knife, ripped off the cloth and tossed it contemptuously into a heap of cotton-refuse at his feet.
"Might better ha' been," came from another hand; and a deep "That's so" of corroboration119 ran through the knot of workers.
Amherst felt a touch on his arm, and met Mrs. Westmore's eyes. "What has happened? What do they mean?" she asked in a startled voice.
"There was an accident here two days ago: a man got caught in the card behind him, and his right hand was badly crushed."
Mr. Tredegar intervened with his dry note of command. "How serious is the accident? How did it happen?" he enquired120.
"Through the man's own carelessness--ask the manager," the overseer interposed before Amherst could answer.
A deep murmur of dissent121 ran through the crowd, but Amherst, without noticing the overseer's reply, said to Mr. Tredegar: "He's at the Hope Hospital. He will lose his hand, and probably the whole arm."
He had not meant to add this last phrase. However strongly his sympathies were aroused, it was against his rule, at such a time, to say anything which might inflame122 the quick passions of the workers: he had meant to make light of the accident, and dismiss the operatives with a sharp word of reproof123. But Mrs. Westmore's face was close to his: he saw the pity in her eyes, and feared, if he checked its expression, that he might never again have the chance of calling it forth124.
"His right arm? How terrible! But then he will never be able to work again!" she exclaimed, in all the horror of a first confrontation125 with the inexorable fate of the poor.
Her eyes turned from Amherst and rested on the faces pressing about her. There were many women's faces among them--the faces of fagged middle-age, and of sallow sedentary girlhood. For the first time Mrs. Westmore seemed to feel the bond of blood between herself and these dim creatures of the underworld: as Amherst watched her the lovely miracle was wrought126. Her pallour gave way to a quick rush of colour, her eyes widened like a frightened child's, and two tears rose and rolled slowly down her face.
"Oh, why wasn't I told? Is he married? Has he children? What does it matter whose fault it was?" she cried, her questions pouring out disconnectedly on a wave of anger and compassion127.
"It warn't his fault.... The cards are too close.... It'll happen again.... He's got three kids at home," broke from the operatives; and suddenly a voice exclaimed "Here's his wife now," and the crowd divided to make way for Mrs. Dillon, who, passing through the farther end of the room, had been waylaid128 and dragged toward the group.
She hung back, shrinking from the murderous machine, which she beheld129 for the first time since her husband's accident; then she saw Amherst, guessed the identity of the lady at his side, and flushed up to her haggard forehead. Mrs. Dillon had been good-looking in her earlier youth, and sufficient prettiness lingered in her hollow-cheeked face to show how much more had been sacrificed to sickness and unwholesome toil.
"Oh, ma'am, ma'am, it warn't Jim's fault--there ain't a steadier man living. The cards is too crowded," she sobbed130 out.
Some of the other women began to cry: a wave of sympathy ran through the circle, and Mrs. Westmore moved forward with an answering exclamation. "You poor creature...you poor creature...." She opened her arms to Mrs. Dillon, and the scrubber's sobs131 were buried on her employer's breast.
"I will go to the hospital--I will come and see you--I will see that everything is done," Bessy reiterated132. "But why are you here? How is it that you have had to leave your children?" She freed herself to turn a reproachful glance on Amherst. "You don't mean to tell me that, at such a time, you keep the poor woman at work?"
"Mrs. Dillon has not been working here lately," Amherst answered. "The manager took her back to-day at her own request, that she might earn something while her husband was in hospital."
Mrs. Westmore's eyes shone indignantly. "Earn something? But surely----"
She met a silencing look from Mr. Tredegar, who had stepped between Mrs. Dillon and herself.
"My dear child, no one doubts--none of these good people doubt--that you will look into the case, and do all you can to alleviate133 it; but let me suggest that this is hardly the place----"
She turned from him with an appealing glance at Amherst.
"I think," the latter said, as their eyes met, "that you had better let me dismiss the hands: they have only an hour at midday."
She signed her assent134, and he turned to the operatives and said quietly: "You have heard Mrs. Westmore's promise; now take yourselves off, and give her a clear way to the stairs."
They dropped back, and Mr. Tredegar drew Bessy's arm through his; but as he began to move away she turned and laid her hand on Mrs. Dillon's shoulder.
"You must not stay here--you must go back to the children. I will make it right with Mr. Truscomb," she said in a reassuring135 whisper; then, through her tears, she smiled a farewell at the lingering knot of operatives, and followed her companions to the door.
In silence they descended136 the many stairs and crossed the shabby unfenced grass-plot between the mills and the manager's office. It was not till they reached the carriage that Mrs. Westmore spoke.
"But Maria is waiting for us--we must call for her!" she said, rousing herself; and as Amherst opened the carriage-door she added: "You will show us the way? You will drive with us?"
During the drive Bessy remained silent, as if re-absorbed in the distress137 of the scene she had just witnessed; and Amherst found himself automatically answering Mr. Tredegar's questions, while his own mind had no room for anything but the sense of her tremulous lips and of her eyes enlarged by tears. He had been too much engrossed138 in the momentous139 issues of her visit to the mills to remember that she had promised to call at his mother's for Mrs. Ansell; but now that they were on their way thither140 he found himself wishing that the visit might have been avoided. He was too proud of his mother to feel any doubt of the impression she would produce; but what would Mrs. Westmore think of their way of living, of the cheap jauntiness141 of the cottage, and the smell of cooking penetrating142 all its thin partitions? Duplain, too, would be coming in for dinner; and Amherst, in spite of his liking143 for the young overseer, became conscious of a rather overbearing freedom in his manner, the kind of misplaced ease which the new-made American affects as the readiest sign of equality. All these trifles, usually non-existent or supremely144 indifferent to Amherst, now assumed a sudden importance, behind which he detected the uneasy desire that Mrs. Westmore should not regard him as less of her own class than his connections and his bringing-up entitled him to be thought. In a flash he saw what he had forfeited145 by his choice of a calling--equal contact with the little circle of people who gave life its crowning grace and facility; and the next moment he was blushing at this reversal of his standards, and wondering, almost contemptuously, what could be the nature of the woman whose mere presence could produce such a change.
But there was no struggling against her influence; and as, the night before, he had looked at Westmore with the nurse's eyes, so he now found himself seeing his house as it must appear to Mrs. Westmore. He noticed the shabby yellow paint of the palings, the neglected garden of their neighbour, the week's wash flaunting146 itself indecently through the denuded147 shrubs148 about the kitchen porch; and as he admitted his companions to the narrow passage he was assailed149 by the expected whiff of "boiled dinner," with which the steam of wash-tubs was intimately mingled150.
Duplain was in the passage; he had just come out of the kitchen, and the fact that he had been washing his hands in the sink was made evident by his rolled-back shirt-sleeves, and by the shiny redness of the knuckles151 he was running through his stiff black hair.
"Hallo, John," he said, in his aggressive voice, which rose abruptly152 at sight of Amherst's companions; and at the same moment the frowsy maid-of-all-work, crimson153 from stooping over the kitchen stove, thrust her head out to call after him: "See here, Mr. Duplain, don't you leave your cravat154 laying round in my dough155."
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complexity
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| n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物 | |
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permanently
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| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
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recurring
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| adj.往复的，再次发生的 | |
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rant
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| v.咆哮；怒吼；n.大话；粗野的话 | |
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formulating
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| v.构想出( formulate的现在分词 )；规划；确切地阐述；用公式表示 | |
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logic
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| n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性 | |
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subjective
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| a.主观(上)的，个人的 | |
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judgments
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| 判断( judgment的名词复数 )； 鉴定； 评价； 审判 | |
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panaceas
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| n.治百病的药，万灵药( panacea的名词复数 ) | |
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poignancy
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| n.辛酸事，尖锐 | |
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toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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philosophic
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| adj.哲学的，贤明的 | |
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disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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wholesome
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| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
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trolley
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| n.手推车，台车；无轨电车；有轨电车 | |
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murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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culmination
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| n.顶点；最高潮 | |
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21
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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22
throbbed
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| 抽痛( throb的过去式和过去分词 )； （心脏、脉搏等）跳动 | |
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23
throb
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| v.震颤，颤动；(急速强烈地)跳动，搏动 | |
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24
tumult
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| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
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25
looms
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| n.织布机( loom的名词复数 )v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的第三人称单数 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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26
sensational
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| adj.使人感动的，非常好的，轰动的，耸人听闻的 | |
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27
resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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28
abiding
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| adj.永久的，持久的，不变的 | |
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29
din
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| n.喧闹声，嘈杂声 | |
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30
incipient
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| adj.起初的，发端的，初期的 | |
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31
dismally
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| adv.阴暗地，沉闷地 | |
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32
dangling
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| 悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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33
gallop
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| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
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34
momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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35
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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36
disarmed
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| v.裁军( disarm的过去式和过去分词 )；使息怒 | |
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37
embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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38
allusion
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| n.暗示，间接提示 | |
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39
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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40
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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41
avowal
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| n.公开宣称，坦白承认 | |
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42
vow
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| n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓 | |
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43
withdrawal
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| n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销 | |
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44
verge
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| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
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45
annoyance
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| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
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46
ruffling
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| 弄皱( ruffle的现在分词 )； 弄乱； 激怒； 扰乱 | |
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47
prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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48
exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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49
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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50
regenerating
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| v.新生，再生( regenerate的现在分词 )；正反馈 | |
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51
dividends
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| 红利( dividend的名词复数 )； 股息； 被除数； （足球彩票的）彩金 | |
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52
heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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53
exacting
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| adj.苛求的，要求严格的 | |
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54
potent
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| adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的 | |
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55
miraculous
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| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
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56
superseded
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| [医]被代替的，废弃的 | |
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57
awakening
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| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
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58
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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59
continental
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| adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的 | |
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60
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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61
passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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62
machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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63
zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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64
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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65
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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66
revolving
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| adj.旋转的，轮转式的；循环的v.（使）旋转( revolve的现在分词 )；细想 | |
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67
ripple
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| n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进 | |
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68
arteries
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| n.动脉( artery的名词复数 )；干线，要道 | |
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69
specialized
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| adj.专门的，专业化的 | |
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70
monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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71
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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72
supervision
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| n.监督，管理 | |
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73
scrupulously
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| adv.一丝不苟地；小心翼翼地，多顾虑地 | |
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74
outlay
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| n.费用，经费，支出；v.花费 | |
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75
earnings
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| n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得 | |
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76
whitewashed
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| 粉饰，美化，掩饰( whitewash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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77
deducted
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|
| v.扣除，减去( deduct的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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78
economized
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| v.节省，减少开支( economize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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79
sanitary
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| adj.卫生方面的，卫生的，清洁的，卫生的 | |
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80
lapsing
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| v.退步( lapse的现在分词 )；陷入；倒退；丧失 | |
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81
imprisoned
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| 下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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82
dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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83
instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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84
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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85
resounding
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| adj. 响亮的 | |
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86
groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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87
shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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88
stunned
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| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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89
subdued
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|
| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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90
spacious
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| adj.广阔的，宽敞的 | |
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91
refinement
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| n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼 | |
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92
malicious
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| adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的 | |
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93
multiplication
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| n.增加，增多，倍增；增殖，繁殖；乘法 | |
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94
dominant
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| adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因 | |
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95
hissing
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| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
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96
unintelligible
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| adj.无法了解的，难解的，莫明其妙的 | |
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97
appendages
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| n.附属物( appendage的名词复数 )；依附的人；附属器官；附属肢体（如臂、腿、尾等） | |
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98
apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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99
inborn
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| adj.天生的，生来的，先天的 | |
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100
incisive
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| adj.敏锐的，机敏的，锋利的，切入的 | |
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101
detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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102
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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103
lameness
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| n. 跛, 瘸, 残废 | |
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104
preoccupied
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| adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式) | |
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105
ironic
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|
| adj.讽刺的，有讽刺意味的，出乎意料的 | |
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106
converse
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| vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反 | |
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107
contemplate
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| vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视 | |
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108
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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109
sullenness
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| n. 愠怒, 沉闷, 情绪消沉 | |
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110
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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111
greasy
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| adj. 多脂的，油脂的 | |
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112
dreariness
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| 沉寂，可怕，凄凉 | |
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113
intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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114
pretext
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| n.借口，托词 | |
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115
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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116
conspicuously
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| ad.明显地，惹人注目地 | |
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117
emblem
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| n.象征，标志；徽章 | |
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118
commotion
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| n.骚动，动乱 | |
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119
corroboration
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| n.进一步的证实，进一步的证据 | |
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120
enquired
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| 打听( enquire的过去式和过去分词 )； 询问； 问问题； 查问 | |
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121
dissent
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| n./v.不同意，持异议 | |
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122
inflame
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| v.使燃烧；使极度激动；使发炎 | |
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123
reproof
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| n.斥责，责备 | |
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124
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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125
confrontation
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| n.对抗，对峙，冲突 | |
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126
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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127
compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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128
waylaid
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| v.拦截，拦路( waylay的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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129
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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130
sobbed
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| 哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说 | |
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131
sobs
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| 啜泣（声），呜咽（声）( sob的名词复数 ) | |
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132
reiterated
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| 反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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133
alleviate
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| v.减轻，缓和，缓解(痛苦等) | |
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134
assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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135
reassuring
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| a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的 | |
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136
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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137
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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138
engrossed
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| adj.全神贯注的 | |
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139
momentous
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| adj.重要的，重大的 | |
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140
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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141
jauntiness
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| n.心满意足；洋洋得意；高兴；活泼 | |
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142
penetrating
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|
| adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的 | |
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143
liking
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| n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢 | |
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144
supremely
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| adv.无上地，崇高地 | |
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145
forfeited
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| （因违反协议、犯规、受罚等）丧失，失去( forfeit的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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146
flaunting
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|
| adj.招摇的，扬扬得意的，夸耀的v.炫耀，夸耀( flaunt的现在分词 )；有什么能耐就施展出来 | |
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147
denuded
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|
| adj.[医]变光的，裸露的v.使赤裸( denude的过去式和过去分词 )；剥光覆盖物 | |
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148
shrubs
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| 灌木( shrub的名词复数 ) | |
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149
assailed
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| v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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150
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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151
knuckles
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| n.（指人）指关节( knuckle的名词复数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的第三人称单数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝 | |
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152
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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153
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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154
cravat
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| n.领巾，领结；v.使穿有领结的服装，使结领结 | |
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155
dough
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| n.生面团；钱，现款 | |
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