ELEVEN o’clock struck at the little church in the Deux-Cent-Quarante settlement, a brick chapel1 to which Abbé Joire came to say mass on Sundays. In the school beside it, also of brick, one heard the faltering2 voices of the children, in spite of windows closed against the outside cold. The wide passages, divided into little gardens, back to back, between the four large blocks of uniform houses, were deserted3; and these gardens, devastated4 by the winter, exhibited the destitution5 of their marly soil, lumped and spotted6 by the last vegetables. They were making soup, chimneys were smoking, a woman appeared at distant intervals7 along the fronts, opened a door and disappeared. From one end to the other, on the pavement, the pipes dripped into tubs, although it was no longer raining, so charged was this grey sky with moistness. And the village, built altogether in the midst of the vast plain, and edged by its black roads as by a mourning border, had no touch of joyousness8 about it save the regular bands of its red tiles, constantly washed by showers.
When Maheude returned, she went out of her way to buy potatoes from an overseer’s wife whose crop was not yet exhausted9. Behind a curtain of sickly poplars, the only trees in these flat regions, was a group of isolated10 buildings, houses placed four together, and surrounded by their gardens. As the Company reserved this new experiment for the captains, the workpeople called this corner of the hamlet the settlement of the Bas-de-Soie, just as they called their own settlement Paie-tes-Dettes, in good-humoured irony11 of their wretchedness.
“Eh! Here we are,” said Maheude, laden12 with parcels, pushing in Lénore and Henri, covered with mud and quite tired out.
In front of the fire Estelle was screaming, cradled in Alzire’s arms. The latter, having no more sugar and not knowing how to soothe13 her, had decided14 to pretend to give her the breast. This ruse15 often succeeded. But this time it was in vain for her to open her dress, and to press the mouth against the lean breast of an eight-year-old invalid16; the child was enraged17 at biting the skin and drawing nothing.
“Pass her to me,” cried the mother as soon as she found herself free; “she won’t let us say a word.”
When she had taken from her bodice a breast as heavy as a leather bottle, to the neck of which the brawler18 hung, suddenly silent, they were at last able to talk. Otherwise everything was going on well; the little housekeeper19 had kept up the fire and had swept and arranged the room. And in the silence they heard upstairs the grandfather’s snoring, the same rhythmic20 snoring which had not stopped for a moment.
“What a lot of things!” murmured Alzire, smiling at the provisions. “If you like, mother, I’ll make the soup.”
The table was encumbered22: a parcel of clothes, two loaves, potatoes, butter, coffee, chicory, and half a pound of brawn23.
“Oh! the soup!” said Maheude with an air of fatigue24. “We must gather some sorrel and pull up some leeks25. No! I will make some for the men afterwards. Put some potatoes on to boil; we’ll eat them with a little butter and some coffee, eh? Don’t forget the coffee!”
But suddenly she thought of the brioche. She looked at the empty hands of Lénore and Henri who were fighting on the floor, already rested and lively. These gluttons26 had slyly eaten the brioche on the road. She boxed their ears, while Alzire, who was putting the saucepan on the fire, tried to appease27 her.
“Let them be, mother. If the brioche was for me, you know I don’t mind a bit. They were hungry, walking so far.”
Midday struck; they heard the clogs28 of the children coming out of school. The potatoes were cooked, and the coffee, thickened by a good half of chicory, was passing through the percolator with a singing noise of large drops. One corner of the table was free; but the mother only was eating there. The three children were satisfied with their knees; and all the time the little boy with silent voracity29 looked, without saying anything, at the brawn, excited by the greasy30 paper.
Maheude was drinking her coffee in little sips31, with her hands round the glass to warm them, when Father Bonnemort came down. Usually he rose late, and his breakfast waited for him on the fire. But to-day he began to grumble32 because there was no soup. Then, when his daughter-in-law said to him that one cannot always do what one likes, he ate his potatoes in silence. From time to time he got up to spit in the ashes for cleanliness, and, settled in his chair, he rolled his food round in his mouth, with lowered head and dull eyes.
“Ah! I forgot, mother,” said Alzire. “The neighbour came ——”
Her mother interrupted her.
“She bothers me!”
She felt a deep rancour against the Levaque woman, who had pleaded poverty the day before to avoid lending her anything; while she knew that she was just then in comfort, since her lodger33, Bouteloup, had paid his fortnight in advance. In the settlement they did not usually lend from household to household.
“Here! you remind me,” said Maheude. “Wrap up a millful of coffee. I will take it to Pierronne; I owe it her from the day before yesterday.”
And when her daughter had prepared the packet she added that she would come back immediately to put the men’s soup on the fire. Then she went out with Estelle in her arms, leaving old Bonnemort to chew his potatoes leisurely34, while Lénore and Henri fought for the fallen parings.
Instead of going round, Maheude went straight across through the gardens, for fear lest Levaque’s wife should call her. Her garden was just next to that of the Pierrons, and in the dilapidated trellis-work which separated them there was a hole through which they fraternized. The common well was there, serving four households. Beside it, behind a clump35 of feeble lilacs, was situated36 the shed, a low building full of old tools, in which were brought up the rabbits which were eaten on feast days. One o’clock struck; it was the hour for coffee, and not a soul was to be seen at the doors or windows. Only a workman belonging to the earth-cutting, waiting the hour for descent, was digging up his patch of vegetable ground without raising his head. But as Maheude arrived opposite the other block of buildings, she was surprised to see a gentleman and two ladies in front of the church. She stopped a moment and recognized them; it was Madame Hennebeau bringing her guests, the decorated gentleman and the lady in the fur mantle37, to see the settlement.
“Oh! why did you take this trouble?” exclaimed Pierronne, when Maheude had returned the coffee. “There was no hurry.”
She was twenty-eight, and was considered the beauty of the settlement, dark, with a low forehead, large eyes, straight mouth, and coquettish as well; with the neatness of a cat, and with a good figure, for she had had no children. Her mother, Brulé, the widow of a pikeman who died in the mine, after having sent her daughter to work in a factory, swearing that she should never marry a collier, had never ceased to be angry since she had married, somewhat late, Pierron, a widower38 with a girl of eight. However, the household lived very happily, in the midst of chatter39, of scandals which circulated concerning the husband’s complaisance40 and the wife’s lovers. No debts, meat twice a week, a house kept so clean that one could see oneself in the saucepans. As an additional piece of luck, thanks to favours, the Company had authorized41 her to sell bon-bons and biscuits, jars of which she exhibited, on two boards, behind the windowpanes. This was six or seven sous profit a day, and sometimes twelve on Sundays. The only drawback to all this happiness was Mother Brulé, who screamed with all the rage of an old revolutionary, having to avenge42 the death of her man on the masters, and little Lydie, who pocketed, in the shape of frequent blows, the passions of the family.
“How big she is already!” said Pierronne, simpering at Estelle.
“Oh! the trouble that it gives! Don’t talk of it!” said Maheude. “You are lucky not to have any. At least you can keep clean.”
Although everything was in order in her house, and she scrubbed every Saturday, she glanced with a jealous housekeeper’s eye over this clean room, in which there was even a certain coquetry, gilt43 vases on the sideboard, a mirror, three framed prints.
Pierronne was about to drink her coffee alone, all her people being at the pit.
“You’ll have a glass with me?” she said.
“No, thanks; I’ve just swallowed mine.”
“What does that matter?”
In fact, it mattered nothing. And both began drinking slowly. Between the jars of biscuits and bon-bons their eyes rested on the opposite houses, of which the little curtains in the windows formed a row, revealing by their greater or less whiteness the virtues44 of the housekeepers45. Those of the Levaques were very dirty, veritable kitchen clouts46, which seemed to have wiped the bottoms of the saucepans.
“How can they live in such dirt?” murmured Pierronne.
Then Maheude began and did not stop. Ah! if she had had a lodger like that Bouteloup she would have made the household go. When one knew how to do it, a lodger was an excellent thing. Only one ought not to sleep with him. And then the husband had taken to drink, beat his wife, and ran after the singers at the Montsou caféconcerts.
Pierronne assumed an air of profound disgust. These singers gave all sort of diseases. There was one at Joiselle who had infected a whole pit.
“What surprises me is that you let your son go with their girl.”
“Ah, yes! but just stop it then! Their garden is next to ours. Zacharie was always there in summer with Philoméne behind the lilacs, and they didn’t put themselves out on the shed; one couldn’t draw water at the well without surprising them.”
It was the usual history of the promiscuities of the settlement; boys and girls became corrupted48 together, throwing themselves on their backsides, as they said, on the low, sloping roof of the shed when twilight49 came on. All the putters got their first child there when they did not take the trouble to go to Réquillart or into the cornfields. It was of no consequence; they married afterwards, only the mothers were angry when their lads began too soon, for a lad who married no longer brought anything into the family.
“In your place I would have done with it,” said Pierronne, sensibly. “Your Zacharie has already filled her twice, and they will go on and get spliced50. Anyhow, the money is gone.”
Maheude was furious and raised her hands.
“Listen to this: I will curse them if they get spliced. Doesn’t Zacharie owe us any respect? He has cost us something, hasn’t he? Very well. He must return it before getting a wife to hang on him. What will become of us, eh, if our children begin at once to work for others? Might as well die!”
However, she grew calm.
“I’m speaking in a general way; we shall see later. It is fine and strong, your coffee; you make it proper.”
And after a quarter of an hour spent over other stories, she ran off, exclaiming that the men’s soup was not yet made. Outside, the children were going back to school; a few women were showing themselves at their doors, looking at Madame Hennebeau, who, with lifted finger, was explaining the settlement to her guests. This visit began to stir up the village. The earth-cutting man stopped digging for a moment, and two disturbed fowls51 took fright in the gardens.
As Maheude returned, she ran against the Levaque woman who had come out to stop Dr. Vanderhaghen, a doctor of the Company, a small hurried man, overwhelmed by work, who gave his advice as he walked.
“Sir,” she said, “I can’t sleep; I feel ill everywhere. I must tell you about it.”
He spoke52 to them all familiarly, and replied without stopping:
“Just leave me alone; you drink too much coffee.”
“And my husband, sir,” said Maheude in her turn, “you must come and see him. He always has those pains in his legs.”
“It is you who take too much out of him. Just leave me alone!”
The two women were left to gaze at the doctor’s retreating back.
“Come in, then,” said the Levaque woman, when she had exchanged a despairing shrug53 with her neighbour. “You know, there is something new. And you will take a little coffee. It is quite fresh.”
Maheude refused, but without energy. Well! a drop, at all events, not to disoblige. And she entered.
The room was black with dirt, the floor and the walls spotted with grease, the sideboard and the table sticky with filth54; and the stink55 of a badly kept house took you by the throat. Near the fire, with his elbows on the table and his nose in his plate, Bouteloup, a broad stout56 placid57 man, still young for thirty-five, was finishing the remains58 of his boiled beef, while standing59 in front of him, little Achille, Philoméne’s first-born, who was already in his third year, was looking at him in the silent, supplicating60 way of a gluttonous61 animal. The lodger, very kind behind his big brown beard, from time to time stuffed a piece of meat into his mouth.
“Wait till I sugar it,” said the Levaque woman, putting some brown sugar beforehand into the coffee-pot.
Six years older than he was, she was hideous62 and worn out, with her bosom63 hanging on her belly64, and her belly on her thighs65, with a flattened66 muzzle67, and greyish hair always uncombed. He had taken her naturally, without choosing, the same as he did his soup in which he found hairs, or his bed of which the sheets lasted for three months. She was part of the lodging68; the husband liked repeating that good reckonings make good friends.
“I was going to tell you,” she went on, “that Pierrone was seen yesterday prowling about on the Bas-de-Soie side. The gentleman you know of was waiting for her behind Rasseneur’s, and they went off together along the canal. Eh! that’s nice, isn’t it? A married woman!”
“Gracious!” said Maheude; “Pierron, before marrying her, used to give the captain rabbits; now it costs him less to lend his wife.”
Bouteloup began to laugh enormously, and threw a fragment of sauced bread into Achille’s mouth. The two women went on relieving themselves with regard to Pierronne — a flirt69, no prettier than any one else, but always occupied in looking after every freckle70 of her skin, in washing herself, and putting on pomade. Anyhow, it was the husband’s affair, if he liked that sort of thing. There were men so ambitious that they would wipe the masters’ behinds to hear them say thank you. And they were only interrupted by the arrival of a neighbour bringing in a little urchin71 of nine months, Désirée, Philoméne’s youngest; Philoméne, taking her breakfast at the screening-shed, had arranged that they should bring her little one down there, where she suckled it, seated for a moment in the coal.
“I can’t leave mine for a moment, she screams directly,” said Maheude, looking at Estelle, who was asleep in her arms.
But she did not succeed in avoiding the domestic affair which she had read in the other’s eyes.
“I say, now we ought to get that settled.”
At first the two mothers, without need for talking about it, had agreed not to conclude the marriage. If Zacharie’s mother wished to get her son’s wages as long as possible, Philoméne’s mother was enraged at the idea of abandoning her daughter’s wages. There was no hurry; the second mother had even preferred to keep the little one, as long as there was only one; but when it began to grow and eat and another one came, she found that she was losing, and furiously pushed on the marriage, like a woman who does not care to throw away her money.
“Zacharie has drawn72 his lot,” she went on, “and there’s nothing in the way. When shall it be?”
“Wait till the fine weather,” replied Maheude, constrainedly73. “They are a nuisance, these affairs! As if they couldn’t wait to be married before going together! My word! I would strangle Catherine if I knew that she had done that.”
The other woman shrugged74 her shoulders.
“Let be! she’ll do like the others.”
Bouteloup, with the tranquillity75 of a man who is at home, searched about on the dresser for bread. Vegetables for Levaque’s soup, potatoes and leeks, lay about on a corner of the table, half-peeled, taken up and dropped a dozen times in the midst of continual gossiping. The woman was about to go on with them again when she dropped them anew and planted herself before the window.
“What’s that there? Why, there’s Madame Hennebeau with some people. They are going into Pierronne’s.”
At once both of them started again on the subject of Pierronne. Oh! whenever the Company brought any visitors to the settlement they never failed to go straight to her place, because it was clean. No doubt they never told them stories about the head captain. One can afford to be clean when one has lovers who earn three thousand francs, and are lodged76 and warmed, without counting presents. If it was clean above it was not clean underneath77. And all the time that the visitors remained opposite, they went on chattering78.
“There, they are coming out,” said the Levaque woman at last. “They are going all around. Why, look, my dear — I believe they are going into your place.”
Maheude was seized with fear. Who knows whether Alzire had sponged over the table? And her soup, also, which was not yet ready! She stammered79 a good-day, and ran off home without a single glance aside.
But everything was bright. Alzire, very seriously, with a cloth in front of her, had set about making the soup, seeing that her mother did not return. She had pulled up the last leeks from the garden, gathered the sorrel, and was just then cleaning the vegetables, while a large kettle on the fire was heating the water for the men’s baths when they should return. Henri and Lénore were good for once, being absorbed in tearing up an old almanac. Father Bonnemort was smoking his pipe in silence. As Maheude was getting her breath Madame Hennebeau knocked.
“You will allow me, will you not, my good woman?” Tall and fair, a little heavy in her superb maturity80 of forty years, she smiled with an effort of affability, without showing too prominently her fear of soiling her bronze silk dress and black velvet81 mantle.
“Come in, come in,” she said to her guests. “We are not disturbing any one. Now, isn’t this clean again! And this good woman has seven children! All our households are like this. I ought to explain to you that the Company rents them the house at six francs a month. A large room on the ground floor, two rooms above, a cellar, and a garden.”
The decorated gentleman and the lady in the fur cloak, arrived that morning by train from Paris, opened their eyes vaguely82, exhibiting on their faces their astonishment83 at all these new things which took them out of their element.
“And a garden!” repeated the lady. “One could live here! It is charming!”
“We give them more coal than they can burn,” went on Madame Hennebeau. “A doctor visits them twice a week; and when they are old they receive pensions, although nothing is held back from their wages.”
“A Thebaid! a real land of milk and honey!” murmured the gentleman in delight.
Maheude had hastened to offer chairs. The ladies refused. Madame Hennebeau was already getting tired, happy for a moment to amuse herself in the weariness of her exile by playing the part of exhibiting the beasts, but immediately disgusted by the sickly odour of wretchedness, in spite of the special cleanliness of the houses into which she ventured. Besides, she was only repeating odd phrases which she had overheard, without ever troubling herself further about this race of work-people who were labouring and suffering beside her.
“What beautiful children!” murmured the lady, who thought them hideous, with their large heads beneath their bushy, straw-coloured hair.
And Maheude had to tell their ages; they also asked her questions about Estelle, out of politeness. Father Bonnemort respectfully took his pipe out of his mouth; but he was not the less a subject of uneasiness, so worn out by his forty years underground, with his stiff limbs, deformed84 body, and earthy face; and as a violent spasm85 of coughing took him he preferred to go and spit outside, with the idea that his black expectoration would make people uncomfortable.
Alzire received all the compliments. What an excellent little housekeeper, with her cloth! They congratulated the mother on having a little daughter so sensible for her age. And none spoke of the hump, though looks of uneasy compassion86 were constantly turned towards the poor little invalid.
“Now!” concluded Madame Hennebeau, “if they ask you about our settlements at Paris you will know what to reply. Never more noise than this, patriarchal manners, all happy and well off as you see, a place where you might come to recruit a little, on account of the good air and the tranquillity.”
“It is marvellous, marvellous!” exclaimed the gentleman, in a final outburst of enthusiasm.
They left with that enchanted87 air with which people leave a booth in a fair, and Maheude, who accompanied them, remained on the threshold while they went away slowly, talking very loudly. The streets were full of people, and they had to pass through several groups of women, attracted by the news of their visit, which was hawked88 from house to house.
Just then, Levaque, in front of her door, had stopped Pierronne, who was drawn by curiosity. Both of them affected89 a painful surprise. What now? Were these people going to bed at the Maheus’? But it was not so very delightful90 a place.
“Always without a sou, with all that they earn! Lord! when people have vices91!”
“I have just heard that she went this morning to beg at Piolaine, and Maigrat, who had refused them bread, has given them something. We know how Maigrat pays himself!”
“On her? Oh, no! that would need some courage. It’s Catherine that he’s after.”
“Why, didn’t she have the cheek to say just now that she would strangle Catherine if she were to come to that? As if big Chaval for ever so long had not put her backside on the shed!”
“Hush! here they are!”
Then Levaque and Pierronne, with a peaceful air and without impolite curiosity, contented92 themselves with watching the visitors out of the corners of their eyes. Then by a gesture they quickly called Maheude, who was still carrying Estelle in her arms. And all three, motionless, watched the well-clad backs of Madame Hennebeau and her guests slowly disappear. When they were some thirty paces off, the gossiping recommenced with redoubled vigour93.
“They carry plenty of money on their skins; worth more than themselves, perhaps.”
“Ah, sure! I don’t know the other, but the one that belongs here, I wouldn’t give four sous for her, big as she is. They do tell stories ——”
“Eh? What stories?”
“Why, she has men! First, the engineer.”
“That lean, little creature! Oh, he’s too small! She would lose him in the sheets.”
“What does that matter, if it amuses her? I don’t trust a woman who puts on such proud airs and never seems to be pleased where she is. Just look how she wags her rump, as if she felt contempt for us all. Is that nice?”
The visitors went along at the same slow pace, still talking, when a carriage stopped in the road, before the church. A gentleman of about forty-eight got out of it, dressed in a black frock-coat, and with a very dark complexion94 and an authoritative95 correct expression.
“The husband,” murmured Levaque, lowering her voice, as if he could hear her, seized by that hierarchical fear which the manager inspired in his ten thousand workpeople. “It’s true, though, that he has a cuckold’s head, that man.”
Now the whole settlement was out of doors. The curiosity of the women increased. The groups approached each other, and were melted into one crowd; while bands of urchins96, with unwiped noses and gaping97 mouths, dawdled98 along the pavements. For a moment the schoolmaster’s pale head was also seen behind the school-house hedge. Among the gardens, the man who was digging stood with one foot on his spade, and with rounded eyes. And the murmur21 of gossiping gradually increased, with a sound of rattles99, like a gust47 of wind among dry leaves.
It was especially before the Levaques’ door that the crowd was thickest. Two women had come forward, then ten, then twenty. Pierronne was prudently100 silent now that there were too many ears about. Maheude, one of the more reasonable, also contented herself with looking on; and to calm Estelle, who was awake and screaming, she had tranquilly101 drawn out her suckling animal’s breast, which hung swaying as if pulled down by the continual running of its milk. When M. Hennebeau had seated the ladies in the carriage, which went off in the direction of Marchiennes, there was a final explosion of clattering102 voices, all the women gesticulating and talking in each other’s faces in the midst of a tumult103 as of an ant-hill in revolution.
But three o’clock struck. The workers of the earth-cutting, Bouteloup and the others, had set out. Suddenly around the church appeared the first colliers returning from the pit with black faces and damp garments, folding their arms and expanding their backs. Then there was confusion among the women: they all began to run home with the terror of housekeepers who had been led astray by too much coffee and too much tattle, and one heard nothing more than this restless cry, pregnant with the quarrels:
“Good Lord, and my soup! and my soup which isn’t ready!”
收听单词发音 |
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chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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faltering
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| 犹豫的，支吾的，蹒跚的 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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devastated
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| v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的 | |
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destitution
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| n.穷困，缺乏，贫穷 | |
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spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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joyousness
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| 快乐，使人喜悦 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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irony
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| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
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laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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soothe
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| v.安慰；使平静；使减轻；缓和；奉承 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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ruse
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| n.诡计，计策；诡计 | |
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invalid
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| n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的 | |
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enraged
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| 使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 )； 歜； 激愤 | |
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brawler
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| 争吵者，打架者 | |
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housekeeper
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| n.管理家务的主妇，女管家 | |
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rhythmic
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| adj.有节奏的，有韵律的 | |
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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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encumbered
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| v.妨碍，阻碍，拖累( encumber的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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brawn
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fatigue
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leeks
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| 韭葱( leek的名词复数 ) | |
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gluttons
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| 贪食者( glutton的名词复数 )； 贪图者； 酷爱…的人； 狼獾 | |
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appease
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| v.安抚，缓和，平息，满足 | |
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clogs
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| 木屐； 木底鞋，木屐( clog的名词复数 ) | |
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voracity
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| n.贪食，贪婪 | |
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greasy
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| adj. 多脂的，油脂的 | |
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31
sips
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| n.小口喝，一小口的量( sip的名词复数 )v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的第三人称单数 ) | |
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32
grumble
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| vi.抱怨；咕哝；n.抱怨，牢骚；咕哝，隆隆声 | |
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33
lodger
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| n.寄宿人，房客 | |
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leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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35
clump
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| n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走 | |
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36
situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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mantle
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| n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红 | |
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38
widower
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| n.鳏夫 | |
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39
chatter
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| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
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40
complaisance
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| n.彬彬有礼，殷勤，柔顺 | |
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41
authorized
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| a.委任的，许可的 | |
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42
avenge
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| v.为...复仇，为...报仇 | |
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43
gilt
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| adj.镀金的；n.金边证券 | |
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44
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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45
housekeepers
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| n.（女）管家( housekeeper的名词复数 ) | |
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46
clouts
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| n.猛打( clout的名词复数 )；敲打；（尤指政治上的）影响；（用手或硬物的）击v.（尤指用手）猛击，重打( clout的第三人称单数 ) | |
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47
gust
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| n.阵风，突然一阵（雨、烟等），（感情的）迸发 | |
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48
corrupted
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| （使）败坏( corrupt的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）腐化； 引起（计算机文件等的）错误； 破坏 | |
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49
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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50
spliced
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| adj.（针织品）加固的n.叠接v.绞接( splice的过去式和过去分词 )；捻接（两段绳子）；胶接；粘接（胶片、磁带等） | |
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51
fowls
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| 鸟( fowl的名词复数 )； 禽肉； 既不是这； 非驴非马 | |
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52
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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53
shrug
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| v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等) | |
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54
filth
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| n.肮脏，污物，污秽；淫猥 | |
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55
stink
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| vi.发出恶臭；糟透，招人厌恶；n.恶臭 | |
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placid
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| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
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58
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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59
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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supplicating
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| v.祈求，哀求，恳求( supplicate的现在分词 ) | |
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gluttonous
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| adj.贪吃的，贪婪的 | |
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hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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belly
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| n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛 | |
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thighs
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| n.股，大腿( thigh的名词复数 )；食用的鸡（等的）腿 | |
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flattened
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| [医]（水）平扁的，弄平的 | |
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muzzle
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| n.鼻口部；口套；枪(炮)口；vt.使缄默 | |
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lodging
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| n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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flirt
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| v.调情，挑逗，调戏；n.调情者，卖俏者 | |
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freckle
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| n.雀簧；晒斑 | |
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urchin
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| n.顽童；海胆 | |
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72
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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constrainedly
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| 不自然地，勉强地，强制地 | |
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74
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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75
tranquillity
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| n. 平静, 安静 | |
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76
lodged
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| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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77
underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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78
chattering
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| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
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79
stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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80
maturity
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| n.成熟；完成；(支票、债券等)到期 | |
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81
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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82
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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83
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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84
deformed
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| adj.畸形的；变形的；丑的，破相了的 | |
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85
spasm
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| n.痉挛，抽搐；一阵发作 | |
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86
compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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87
enchanted
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| adj. 被施魔法的，陶醉的，入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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88
hawked
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| 通过叫卖主动兜售（hawk的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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89
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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90
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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91
vices
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| 缺陷( vice的名词复数 )； 恶习； 不道德行为； 台钳 | |
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92
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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93
vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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94
complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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95
authoritative
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| adj.有权威的，可相信的；命令式的；官方的 | |
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96
urchins
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| n.顽童( urchin的名词复数 )；淘气鬼；猬；海胆 | |
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97
gaping
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| adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大 | |
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98
dawdled
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| v.混（时间）( dawdle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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99
rattles
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| （使）发出格格的响声， （使）作嘎嘎声( rattle的第三人称单数 )； 喋喋不休地说话； 迅速而嘎嘎作响地移动，堕下或走动； 使紧张，使恐惧 | |
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100
prudently
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| adv. 谨慎地，慎重地 | |
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101
tranquilly
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| adv. 宁静地 | |
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102
clattering
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| 发出咔哒声（clatter的现在分词形式） | |
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103
tumult
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| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
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