Aeterna aeternus tribuit, mortalia confert
Mortalis; divina Deus, peritura caducus.
“Aurel. Prud. contra Symmachum,” lib. ii.
(The Eternal gives eternal things, the Mortal gathers mortal things: God, that which is divine, and the perishable1 that which is perishable.)
EXTRACTS FROM THE LETTERS OF ZANONI TO MEJNOUR.
Letter 1.
Thou hast not informed me of the progress of thy pupil; and I fear that so differently does circumstance shape the minds of the generations to which we are descended2, from the intense and earnest children of the earlier world, that even thy most careful and elaborate guidance would fail, with loftier and purer natures than that of the neophyte3 thou hast admitted within thy gates. Even that third state of being, which the Indian sage4 (The Brahmins, speaking of Brahm, say, “To the Omniscient5 the three modes of being — sleep, waking, and trance — are not;” distinctly recognising trance as a third and coequal condition of being.) rightly recognises as being between the sleep and the waking, and describes imperfectly by the name of TRANCE, is unknown to the children of the Northern world; and few but would recoil6 to indulge it, regarding its peopled calm as maya and delusion7 of the mind. Instead of ripening8 and culturing that airy soil, from which Nature, duly known, can evoke9 fruits so rich and flowers so fair, they strive but to exclude it from their gaze; they esteem10 that struggle of the intellect from men’s narrow world to the spirit’s infinite home, as a disease which the leech11 must extirpate12 with pharmacy13 and drugs, and know not even that it is from this condition of their being, in its most imperfect and infant form, that poetry, music, art — all that belong to an Idea of Beauty to which neither SLEEPING nor WAKING can furnish archetype and actual semblance14 — take their immortal15 birth. When we, O Mejnour in the far time, were ourselves the neophytes and aspirants16, we were of a class to which the actual world was shut and barred. Our forefathers17 had no object in life but knowledge. From the cradle we were predestined and reared to wisdom as to a priesthood. We commenced research where modern Conjecture18 closes its faithless wings. And with us, those were common elements of science which the sages19 of today disdain20 as wild chimeras21, or despair of as unfathomable mysteries. Even the fundamental principles, the large yet simple theories of electricity and magnetism22, rest obscure and dim in the disputes of their blinded schools; yet, even in our youth, how few ever attained23 to the first circle of the brotherhood25, and, after wearily enjoying the sublime26 privileges they sought, they voluntarily abandoned the light of the sun, and sunk, without effort, to the grave, like pilgrims in a trackless desert, overawed by the stillness of their solitude27, and appalled28 by the absence of a goal. Thou, in whom nothing seems to live BUT THE DESIRE TO KNOW; thou, who, indifferent whether it leads to weal or to woe29, lendest thyself to all who would tread the path of mysterious science, a human book, insensate to the precepts30 it enounces,— thou hast ever sought, and often made additions to our number. But to these have only been vouchsafed31 partial secrets; vanity and passion unfitted them for the rest; and now, without other interest than that of an experiment in science, without love, and without pity, thou exposest this new soul to the hazards of the tremendous ordeal32! Thou thinkest that a zeal33 so inquisitive34, a courage so absolute and dauntless, may suffice to conquer, where austerer intellect and purer virtue35 have so often failed. Thou thinkest, too, that the germ of art that lies in the painter’s mind, as it comprehends in itself the entire embryo36 of power and beauty, may be expanded into the stately flower of the Golden Science. It is a new experiment to thee. Be gentle with thy neophyte, and if his nature disappoint thee in the first stages of the process, dismiss him back to the Real while it is yet time to enjoy the brief and outward life which dwells in the senses, and closes with the tomb. And as I thus admonish37 thee, O Mejnour, wilt38 thou smile at my inconsistent hopes? I, who have so invariably refused to initiate39 others into our mysteries,— I begin at last to comprehend why the great law, which binds40 man to his kind, even when seeking most to set himself aloof41 from their condition, has made thy cold and bloodless science the link between thyself and thy race; why, THOU has sought converts and pupils; why, in seeing life after life voluntarily dropping from our starry42 order, thou still aspirest to renew the vanished, and repair the lost; why, amidst thy calculations, restless and unceasing as the wheels of Nature herself, thou recoilest from the THOUGHT TO BE ALONE! So with myself; at last I, too, seek a convert, an equal,— I, too, shudder43 to be alone! What thou hast warned me of has come to pass. Love reduces all things to itself. Either must I be drawn44 down to the nature of the beloved, or hers must be lifted to my own. As whatever belongs to true Art has always necessarily had attraction for US, whose very being is in the ideal whence Art descends45, so in this fair creature I have learned, at last, the secret that bound me to her at the first glance. The daughter of music,— music, passing into her being, became poetry. It was not the stage that attracted her, with its hollow falsehoods; it was the land in her own fancy which the stage seemed to centre and represent. There the poetry found a voice,— there it struggled into imperfect shape; and then (that land insufficient46 for it) it fell back upon itself. It coloured her thoughts, it suffused47 her soul; it asked not words, it created not things; it gave birth but to emotions, and lavished48 itself on dreams. At last came love; and there, as a river into the sea, it poured its restless waves, to become mute and deep and still,— the everlasting49 mirror of the heavens.
And is it not through this poetry which lies within her that she may be led into the large poetry of the universe! Often I listen to her careless talk, and find oracles50 in its unconscious beauty, as we find strange virtues51 in some lonely flower. I see her mind ripening under my eyes; and in its fair fertility what ever-teeming novelties of thought! O Mejnour! how many of our tribe have unravelled52 the laws of the universe,— have solved the riddles53 of the exterior54 nature, and deduced the light from darkness! And is not the POET, who studies nothing but the human heart, a greater philosopher than all? Knowledge and atheism55 are incompatible56. To know Nature is to know that there must be a God. But does it require this to examine the method and architecture of creation? Methinks, when I look upon a pure mind, however ignorant and childlike, that I see the August and Immaterial One more clearly than in all the orbs57 of matter which career at His bidding through space.
Rightly is it the fundamental decree of our order, that we must impart our secrets only to the pure. The most terrible part of the ordeal is in the temptations that our power affords to the criminal. If it were possible that a malevolent58 being could attain24 to our faculties59, what disorder60 it might introduce into the globe! Happy that it is NOT possible; the malevolence61 would disarm62 the power. It is in the purity of Viola that I rely, as thou more vainly hast relied on the courage or the genius of thy pupils. Bear me witness, Mejnour! Never since the distant day in which I pierced the Arcana of our knowledge, have I ever sought to make its mysteries subservient63 to unworthy objects; though, alas64! the extension of our existence robs us of a country and a home; though the law that places all science, as all art, in the abstraction from the noisy passions and turbulent ambition of actual life, forbids us to influence the destinies of nations, for which Heaven selects ruder and blinder agencies; yet, wherever have been my wanderings, I have sought to soften65 distress66, and to convert from sin. My power has been hostile only to the guilty; and yet with all our lore68, how in each step we are reduced to be but the permitted instruments of the Power that vouchsafes69 our own, but only to direct it. How all our wisdom shrinks into nought70, compared with that which gives the meanest herb its virtues, and peoples the smallest globule with its appropriate world. And while we are allowed at times to influence the happiness of others, how mysteriously the shadows thicken round our own future doom71! We cannot be prophets to ourselves! With what trembling hope I nurse the thought that I may preserve to my solitude the light of a living smile!
....
Extracts from Letter II.
Deeming myself not pure enough to initiate so pure a heart, I invoke72 to her trance those fairest and most tender inhabitants of space that have furnished to poetry, which is the instinctive73 guess into creation, the ideas of the Glendoveer and Sylph. And these were less pure than her own thoughts, and less tender than her own love! They could not raise her above her human heart, for THAT has a heaven of its own.
....
I have just looked on her in sleep,— I have heard her breathe my name. Alas! that which is so sweet to others has its bitterness to me; for I think how soon the time may come when that sleep will be without a dream,— when the heart that dictates74 the name will be cold, and the lips that utter it be dumb. What a twofold shape there is in love! If we examine it coarsely,— if we look but on its fleshy ties, its enjoyments75 of a moment, its turbulent fever and its dull reaction,— how strange it seems that this passion should be the supreme76 mover of the world; that it is this which has dictated77 the greatest sacrifices, and influenced all societies and all times; that to this the loftiest and loveliest genius has ever consecrated78 its devotion; that, but for love, there were no civilisation79, no music, no poetry, no beauty, no life beyond the brute’s.
But examine it in its heavenlier shape,— in its utter abnegation of self; in its intimate connection with all that is most delicate and subtle in the spirit,— its power above all that is sordid80 in existence; its mastery over the idols81 of the baser worship; its ability to create a palace of the cottage, an oasis82 in the desert, a summer in the Iceland,— where it breathes, and fertilises, and glows; and the wonder rather becomes how so few regard it in its holiest nature. What the sensual call its enjoyments, are the least of its joys. True love is less a passion than a symbol. Mejnour, shall the time come when I can speak to thee of Viola as a thing that was?
....
Extract from Letter III.
Knowest thou that of late I have sometimes asked myself, “Is there no guilt67 in the knowledge that has so divided us from our race?” It is true that the higher we ascend83 the more hateful seem to us the vices84 of the short-lived creepers of the earth,— the more the sense of the goodness of the All-good penetrates85 and suffuses86 us, and the more immediately does our happiness seem to emanate87 from him. But, on the other hand, how many virtues must lie dead in those who live in the world of death, and refuse to die! Is not this sublime egotism, this state of abstraction and reverie,— this self-wrapped and self-dependent majesty88 of existence, a resignation of that nobility which incorporates our own welfare, our joys, our hopes, our fears with others? To live on in no dread89 of foes90, undegraded by infirmity, secure through the cares, and free from the disease of flesh, is a spectacle that captivates our pride. And yet dost thou not more admire him who dies for another? Since I have loved her, Mejnour, it seems almost cowardice91 to elude92 the grave which devours93 the hearts that wrap us in their folds. I feel it,— the earth grows upon my spirit. Thou wert right; eternal age, serene94 and passionless, is a happier boon95 than eternal youth, with its yearnings and desires. Until we can be all spirit, the tranquillity96 of solitude must be indifference97.
....
Extracts from Letter IV.
I have received thy communication. What! is it so? Has thy pupil disappointed thee? Alas, poor pupil! But —
....
(Here follow comments on those passages in Glyndon’s life already known to the reader, or about to be made so, with earnest adjurations to Mejnour to watch yet over the fate of his scholar.)
....
But I cherish the same desire, with a warmer heart. My pupil! how the terrors that shall encompass98 thine ordeal warn me from the task! Once more I will seek the Son of Light.
....
Yes; Adon–Ai, long deaf to my call, at last has descended to my vision, and left behind him the glory of his presence in the shape of Hope. Oh, not impossible, Viola,— not impossible, that we yet may be united, soul with soul!
Extract from Letter V.—(Many months after the last.)
Mejnour, awake from thine apathy,— rejoice! A new soul will be born to the world,— a new soul that shall call me father. Ah, if they for whom exist all the occupations and resources of human life,— if they can thrill with exquisite99 emotion at the thought of hailing again their own childhood in the faces of their children; if in that birth they are born once more into the holy Innocence100 which is the first state of existence; if they can feel that on man devolves almost an angel’s duty, when he has a life to guide from the cradle, and a soul to nurture101 for the heaven,— what to me must be the rapture102 to welcome an inheritor of all the gifts which double themselves in being shared! How sweet the power to watch, and to guard,— to instil103 the knowledge, to avert104 the evil, and to guide back the river of life in a richer and broader and deeper stream to the paradise from which it flows! And beside that river our souls shall meet, sweet mother. Our child shall supply the sympathy that fails as yet; and what shape shall haunt thee, what terror shall dismay, when thy initiation105 is beside the cradle of thy child!
1 perishable | |
adj.(尤指食物)易腐的,易坏的 | |
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2 descended | |
a.为...后裔的,出身于...的 | |
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3 neophyte | |
n.新信徒;开始者 | |
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4 sage | |
n.圣人,哲人;adj.贤明的,明智的 | |
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5 omniscient | |
adj.无所不知的;博识的 | |
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6 recoil | |
vi.退却,退缩,畏缩 | |
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7 delusion | |
n.谬见,欺骗,幻觉,迷惑 | |
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8 ripening | |
v.成熟,使熟( ripen的现在分词 );熟化;熟成 | |
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9 evoke | |
vt.唤起,引起,使人想起 | |
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10 esteem | |
n.尊敬,尊重;vt.尊重,敬重;把…看作 | |
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11 leech | |
n.水蛭,吸血鬼,榨取他人利益的人;vt.以水蛭吸血;vi.依附于别人 | |
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12 extirpate | |
v.除尽,灭绝 | |
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13 pharmacy | |
n.药房,药剂学,制药业,配药业,一批备用药品 | |
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14 semblance | |
n.外貌,外表 | |
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15 immortal | |
adj.不朽的;永生的,不死的;神的 | |
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16 aspirants | |
n.有志向或渴望获得…的人( aspirant的名词复数 )v.渴望的,有抱负的,追求名誉或地位的( aspirant的第三人称单数 );有志向或渴望获得…的人 | |
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17 forefathers | |
n.祖先,先人;祖先,祖宗( forefather的名词复数 );列祖列宗;前人 | |
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18 conjecture | |
n./v.推测,猜测 | |
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19 sages | |
n.圣人( sage的名词复数 );智者;哲人;鼠尾草(可用作调料) | |
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20 disdain | |
n.鄙视,轻视;v.轻视,鄙视,不屑 | |
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21 chimeras | |
n.(由几种动物的各部分构成的)假想的怪兽( chimera的名词复数 );不可能实现的想法;幻想;妄想 | |
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22 magnetism | |
n.磁性,吸引力,磁学 | |
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23 attained | |
(通常经过努力)实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 ); 达到; 获得; 达到(某年龄、水平、状况) | |
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24 attain | |
vt.达到,获得,完成 | |
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25 brotherhood | |
n.兄弟般的关系,手中情谊 | |
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26 sublime | |
adj.崇高的,伟大的;极度的,不顾后果的 | |
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27 solitude | |
n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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28 appalled | |
v.使惊骇,使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的;丧胆的 | |
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29 woe | |
n.悲哀,苦痛,不幸,困难;int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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30 precepts | |
n.规诫,戒律,箴言( precept的名词复数 ) | |
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31 vouchsafed | |
v.给予,赐予( vouchsafe的过去式和过去分词 );允诺 | |
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32 ordeal | |
n.苦难经历,(尤指对品格、耐力的)严峻考验 | |
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33 zeal | |
n.热心,热情,热忱 | |
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34 inquisitive | |
adj.求知欲强的,好奇的,好寻根究底的 | |
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35 virtue | |
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力 | |
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36 embryo | |
n.胚胎,萌芽的事物 | |
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37 admonish | |
v.训戒;警告;劝告 | |
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38 wilt | |
v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎;(指人)疲倦,衰弱 | |
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39 initiate | |
vt.开始,创始,发动;启蒙,使入门;引入 | |
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40 binds | |
v.约束( bind的第三人称单数 );装订;捆绑;(用长布条)缠绕 | |
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41 aloof | |
adj.远离的;冷淡的,漠不关心的 | |
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42 starry | |
adj.星光照耀的, 闪亮的 | |
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43 shudder | |
v.战粟,震动,剧烈地摇晃;n.战粟,抖动 | |
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44 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
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45 descends | |
v.下来( descend的第三人称单数 );下去;下降;下斜 | |
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46 insufficient | |
adj.(for,of)不足的,不够的 | |
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47 suffused | |
v.(指颜色、水气等)弥漫于,布满( suffuse的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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48 lavished | |
v.过分给予,滥施( lavish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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49 everlasting | |
adj.永恒的,持久的,无止境的 | |
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50 oracles | |
神示所( oracle的名词复数 ); 神谕; 圣贤; 哲人 | |
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51 virtues | |
美德( virtue的名词复数 ); 德行; 优点; 长处 | |
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52 unravelled | |
解开,拆散,散开( unravel的过去式和过去分词 ); 阐明; 澄清; 弄清楚 | |
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53 riddles | |
n.谜(语)( riddle的名词复数 );猜不透的难题,难解之谜 | |
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54 exterior | |
adj.外部的,外在的;表面的 | |
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55 atheism | |
n.无神论,不信神 | |
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56 incompatible | |
adj.不相容的,不协调的,不相配的 | |
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57 orbs | |
abbr.off-reservation boarding school 在校寄宿学校n.球,天体,圆形物( orb的名词复数 ) | |
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58 malevolent | |
adj.有恶意的,恶毒的 | |
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59 faculties | |
n.能力( faculty的名词复数 );全体教职员;技巧;院 | |
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60 disorder | |
n.紊乱,混乱;骚动,骚乱;疾病,失调 | |
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61 malevolence | |
n.恶意,狠毒 | |
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62 disarm | |
v.解除武装,回复平常的编制,缓和 | |
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63 subservient | |
adj.卑屈的,阿谀的 | |
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64 alas | |
int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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65 soften | |
v.(使)变柔软;(使)变柔和 | |
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66 distress | |
n.苦恼,痛苦,不舒适;不幸;vt.使悲痛 | |
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67 guilt | |
n.犯罪;内疚;过失,罪责 | |
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68 lore | |
n.传说;学问,经验,知识 | |
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69 vouchsafes | |
v.给予,赐予( vouchsafe的第三人称单数 );允诺 | |
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70 nought | |
n./adj.无,零 | |
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71 doom | |
n.厄运,劫数;v.注定,命定 | |
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72 invoke | |
v.求助于(神、法律);恳求,乞求 | |
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73 instinctive | |
adj.(出于)本能的;直觉的;(出于)天性的 | |
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74 dictates | |
n.命令,规定,要求( dictate的名词复数 )v.大声讲或读( dictate的第三人称单数 );口授;支配;摆布 | |
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75 enjoyments | |
愉快( enjoyment的名词复数 ); 令人愉快的事物; 享有; 享受 | |
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76 supreme | |
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的 | |
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77 dictated | |
v.大声讲或读( dictate的过去式和过去分词 );口授;支配;摆布 | |
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78 consecrated | |
adj.神圣的,被视为神圣的v.把…奉为神圣,给…祝圣( consecrate的过去式和过去分词 );奉献 | |
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79 civilisation | |
n.文明,文化,开化,教化 | |
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80 sordid | |
adj.肮脏的,不干净的,卑鄙的,暗淡的 | |
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81 idols | |
偶像( idol的名词复数 ); 受崇拜的人或物; 受到热爱和崇拜的人或物; 神像 | |
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82 oasis | |
n.(沙漠中的)绿洲,宜人的地方 | |
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83 ascend | |
vi.渐渐上升,升高;vt.攀登,登上 | |
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84 vices | |
缺陷( vice的名词复数 ); 恶习; 不道德行为; 台钳 | |
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85 penetrates | |
v.穿过( penetrate的第三人称单数 );刺入;了解;渗透 | |
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86 suffuses | |
v.(指颜色、水气等)弥漫于,布满( suffuse的第三人称单数 ) | |
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87 emanate | |
v.发自,来自,出自 | |
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88 majesty | |
n.雄伟,壮丽,庄严,威严;最高权威,王权 | |
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89 dread | |
vt.担忧,忧虑;惧怕,不敢;n.担忧,畏惧 | |
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90 foes | |
敌人,仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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91 cowardice | |
n.胆小,怯懦 | |
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92 elude | |
v.躲避,困惑 | |
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93 devours | |
吞没( devour的第三人称单数 ); 耗尽; 津津有味地看; 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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94 serene | |
adj. 安详的,宁静的,平静的 | |
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95 boon | |
n.恩赐,恩物,恩惠 | |
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96 tranquillity | |
n. 平静, 安静 | |
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97 indifference | |
n.不感兴趣,不关心,冷淡,不在乎 | |
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98 encompass | |
vt.围绕,包围;包含,包括;完成 | |
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99 exquisite | |
adj.精美的;敏锐的;剧烈的,感觉强烈的 | |
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100 innocence | |
n.无罪;天真;无害 | |
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101 nurture | |
n.养育,照顾,教育;滋养,营养品;vt.养育,给与营养物,教养,扶持 | |
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102 rapture | |
n.狂喜;全神贯注;着迷;v.使狂喜 | |
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103 instil | |
v.逐渐灌输 | |
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104 avert | |
v.防止,避免;转移(目光、注意力等) | |
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105 initiation | |
n.开始 | |
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