"Therese," and nothing could have been more phlegmatic1 than his manner as he spoke2, "I have found a more reliable method than the one I proposed to attain3 our objectives, but numerous details are involved, and I dare not come so often to your room; at precisely4 five o'clock be at the corner of the park, I'll join you, we will take a walk together in the woods; while on our promenade5 I'll explain it all."
I wish to affirm, Madame, that, whether because of the influence of Providence6, whether owing to an excessive candor7, whether to blindness, nothing gave me a hint of the terrible misery8 awaiting me; I believed myself so safe, thanks to the Marquise's secret arrangements, that I never for a moment imagined that the Count had been able to discover them; nevertheless I was not entirely9 at ease.
"Le parjure est vertu quand on promit le crime," one of our tragic10 poets has said; but perjury11 is always odious12 to a delicate and sensitive spirit which finds itself compelled to resort to it. My role embarrassed me.
However that may be, I came to the rendezvous13; the Count was not late in getting there; he came up to me very gay and easy, and we set off into the forest; the while he but laughed banteringly and jested, as was his habit when we were together. When I sought to guide the conversation to the subject which he had desired to discuss, he told me to wait yet a little, he said he feared we might be observed, it did not seem to him we were in a safe enough place; very gradually, without my perceiving it, we approached the four trees to which I had been so cruelly bound long ago. Upon seeing the place, a quiver ran through me: all the horror of my fate rose up before my eyes, and fancy whether my terror was not doubled when I caught sight of the preparations which had been made in that horrible place. Ropes hung from one of the trees; huge mastiffs were leashed to each of the other three and seemed to be waiting for nothing but me in order to fall to sating the hunger announced by their gaping14 foam-flecked jaws15; one of the Count's favorites guarded them.
Whereupon the perfidious16 creature ceased to employ all but the very foulest17 epithets18.
"Scum," quoth he, "do you recognize that bush whence I dragged you like a wild beast only to spare a life you deserved to lose? Do you recognize these trees unto which I threatened to lash19 you were you ever to give me cause to repent20 my kindness ? Why did you agree to perform the task I demanded, if you intended to betray me to my aunt? and how could you imagine it was virtue21 you served by imperiling the freedom of him to whom you owe all your happiness? By necessity placed between two crimes, why have you chosen the more abominable22?"
"Alas23 ! I did not choose the less..."
"But you should have refused," the Count continued, in his rage seizing one of my arms and shaking me furiously, "yes, certainly, refused, and not consented to betray me."
Then Monsieur de Bressac told me how he had gone about the interception24 of Madame's messages, and how the suspicion had been born which had led him to decide to stop them.
"What has your duplicity done for you, unworthy creature? You have risked your life without having saved my aunt's: the die is cast, upon my return to the chateau26 I will find a fortune awaiting me, but you must perish; before you expire you must learn that the virtuous27 road is not always the safest, and that there are circumstances in this world when complicity in crime is preferable to informing." And without giving me time to reply, without giving evidence of the least pity for the frightful28 situation I was in, he dragged me toward the tree destined29 for me and by which his valet stood expectantly. "Here she is," he said, "the creature who wanted to poison my aunt and who may already have committed the terrible crime in spite of my efforts to prevent it; no doubt, it would have been better to have put her into the hands of justice, but the law would have taken away her life, and I prefer to leave it to her in order that she have longer to suffer."
The two villains30 then lay hands on me, in an instant they strip me naked. "Pretty buttocks," said the Count in a tone of cruelest irony31, brutally32 handling those objects, "superb flesh... excellent lunch for the dogs." When no article of clothing is left upon me, I am secured to the tree by a rope attached around my waist; so that I may defend myself as best I can, my arms are left free, and enough slack is provided for me to advance or retreat about two yards. The arrangements completed, the Count, very much moved, steps up to have a look at my expression, he turns and passes around me; his savage33 way of handling me seems to say that his murderous fingers would like to dispute the rage of his mastiff's steel teeth....
"Come," says he to his lieutenant34, "free the animals, the time has arrived."
They are loosed, the Count excites them, all three fling themselves upon my poor body, one would think they were sharing it in such wise that not one of its parts would be exempt35 from assault; in vain I drive them back, they bite and tear me with renewed fury, and throughout this horrible scene, Bressac, the craven Bressac, as if my torments36 had ignited his perfidious lust37... the beastly man gives himself up, while he regards me, to his companion's criminal caresses38.
"Enough," said he after several minutes had gone by, "that will do. Tie up the dogs and let's abandon this creature to her sweet fate.
"Well indeed, Therese," says he as he severs39 my bonds, "virtue is not to be practiced at some expense; a pension of two thousand crowns, would that not have been worth more than the bites you are covered with ?"
But in my state I can scarcely hear him; I slump40 to the foot of the tree and am about to lose consciousness.
"It is most generous of me to save your life," continues the traitor41 whom my sufferings inflame42, "at least take good care how you make use of this favor...."
Then he orders me to get up, dress, and quit the place at once. As my blood is flowing everywhere, in order that my few clothes, the only clothes I have, not be stained, I gather some grass to wipe myself; Bressac paces to and fro, much more preoccupied43 with his thoughts than concerned with me.
My swollen44 flesh, the blood that continues to stream from my multiple wounds, the atrocious pain I am enduring, everything makes the operation of dressing45 well nigh impossible; never once does the dishonest man who has just put me into this horrible state... him for whom I once would have sacrificed my life, never once does he deign46 to show me the least hint of sympathy. When at length I am ready:
"Go wherever you wish," says he; "you must have some money left, I will not take it from you, but beware of reappearing at any one of my houses in the city or the country: there are two excellent reasons for not doing so: you may just as well know, first of all, that the affair you thought finished is not at all over. They informed you that the law was done with you; they told you what is not true; the warrant for your arrest still holds, the case is still warm: you were left in this situation so that your conduct might be observed. In the second place, you are going to pass, insofar as the public is concerned, for the Marquise's murderer; if she yet breathes, I am going to see to it she carries this notion into the grave, the entire household will share it; and there you have two trials still to face instead of one: instead of a vile47 usurer, you have for an adversary48 a rich and powerful man who is determined49 to hound you into Hell itself if you misuse50 the life his compassion51 leaves to you."
"Oh Monsieur !" was my response, "whatever have been your severities with me, fear not that I will retaliate52; I thought myself obliged to take steps against you when it was a question of your aunt's life; but where only the unhappy Therese is involved, I shall never do anything. Adieu, Monsieur, may your crimes render you as happy as your cruelties have made me to suffer; and no matter what the fate reserved to me by Heaven, while it shall prolong my deplorable life, I shall only employ my days in uttering prayers for you."
The Count raised his head; he could not avoid glancing at me upon hearing these words, and, as he beheld53 me quavering and covered with tears and doubtless was afraid lest he be moved by what he saw, the cruel one went away, and I saw him nevermore.
Entirely delivered unto my agony, I fell back again and lay by the tree; there, giving free reign54 to my hurt, I made the forest resound55 with my groans56; I pressed my stricken frame against the earth, and shed upon the sward all my tears.
"O my God," I cried out, "Thou hast so willed it; it was grained in Thy eternal decrees that the innocent were to fall unto the guilty and were to be their prey57: dispose of me, O Lord, I am yet far away from what Thou didst suffer for us; may those I endure, as I adore Thee, render me worthy25 someday of what rewards Thou keepeth for the lowly, when he hath Thee before him in his tribulations58, and let his anguishes59 be unto Thy greater glorification60!"
Night was closing: it was almost beyond my power to move; I was scarcely able to stand erect61; I cast my eyes upon the thicket62 where four years earlier I had slept a night when I had been in circumstances almost as unhappy! I dragged myself along as best I could, and having reached the very same spot, tormented63 by my still bleeding wounds, overwhelmed by my mind's anxieties and the sorrows of my heart, I passed the cruelest night imaginable.
By dawn, thanks to my youth and my vigorous temperament64, some of my strength was restored; greatly terrified by the proximity65 of that baneful66 chateau, I started away from it without delay; I left the forest, and resolved at any price to gain the first habitation which might catch my eye, I entered the town of Saint-Marcel, about five leagues distant from Paris; I demanded the address of a surgeon, one was given me; I presented myself and besought67 him to dress my wounds; I told him that, in connection with some affair at whose source lay love, I had fled my mother's house, quit Paris, and during the night had been overtaken in the forest by bandits who in revenge for my resistance to their desires, had set their dogs upon me. Rodin, as this artist was called, examined me with the greatest attention, found nothing dangerous about my injuries; had I come to him directly, he said, he would have been able to guarantee that in the space of a fortnight he would have me as fresh and whole as I had been before my adventure; however, the night passed in the open and my worry had infected my wounds, and I could not expect to be well in less than a month. Rodin found space in his own house to lodge68 me, took all possible care of me, and on the thirtieth day there no longer existed upon my body a single vestige69 of Monsieur de Bressac's cruelties.
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1
phlegmatic
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| adj.冷静的，冷淡的，冷漠的，无活力的 | |
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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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attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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promenade
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| n./v.散步 | |
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providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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candor
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| n.坦白，率真 | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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perjury
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| n.伪证；伪证罪 | |
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odious
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| adj.可憎的，讨厌的 | |
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rendezvous
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| n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇 | |
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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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15
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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perfidious
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| adj.不忠的，背信弃义的 | |
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foulest
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| adj.恶劣的( foul的最高级 )；邪恶的；难闻的；下流的 | |
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epithets
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| n.（表示性质、特征等的）词语( epithet的名词复数 ) | |
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lash
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| v.系牢；鞭打；猛烈抨击；n.鞭打；眼睫毛 | |
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repent
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| v.悔悟，悔改，忏悔，后悔 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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abominable
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| adj.可厌的，令人憎恶的 | |
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23
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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interception
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| n.拦截；截击；截取；截住，截断；窃听 | |
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25
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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chateau
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| n.城堡，别墅 | |
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virtuous
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| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
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28
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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villains
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| n.恶棍( villain的名词复数 )；罪犯；（小说、戏剧等中的）反面人物；淘气鬼 | |
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31
irony
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| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
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brutally
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| adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地 | |
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33
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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34
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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35
exempt
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| adj.免除的；v.使免除；n.免税者，被免除义务者 | |
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torments
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| （肉体或精神上的）折磨，痛苦( torment的名词复数 )； 造成痛苦的事物[人] | |
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37
lust
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| n.性(淫)欲；渴(欲)望；vi.对…有强烈的欲望 | |
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38
caresses
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| 爱抚，抚摸( caress的名词复数 ) | |
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39
severs
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| v.切断，断绝( sever的第三人称单数 )；断，裂 | |
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40
slump
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| n.暴跌，意气消沉，（土地）下沉；vi.猛然掉落，坍塌，大幅度下跌 | |
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traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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42
inflame
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| v.使燃烧；使极度激动；使发炎 | |
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43
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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44
swollen
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| adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀 | |
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45
dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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46
deign
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| v. 屈尊, 惠允 ( 做某事) | |
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47
vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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48
adversary
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| adj.敌手，对手 | |
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49
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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50
misuse
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| n.误用，滥用；vt.误用，滥用 | |
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51
compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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52
retaliate
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| v.报复，反击 | |
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53
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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54
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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55
resound
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| v.回响 | |
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56
groans
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| n.呻吟，叹息( groan的名词复数 )；呻吟般的声音v.呻吟( groan的第三人称单数 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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57
prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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58
tribulations
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| n.苦难( tribulation的名词复数 )；艰难；苦难的缘由；痛苦 | |
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anguishes
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| v.（尤指心理上的）极度的痛苦( anguish的第三人称单数 ) | |
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glorification
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| n.赞颂 | |
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61
erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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62
thicket
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| n.灌木丛，树林 | |
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63
tormented
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| 饱受折磨的 | |
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64
temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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65
proximity
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| n.接近，邻近 | |
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66
baneful
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| adj.有害的 | |
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67
besought
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| v.恳求，乞求（某事物）( beseech的过去式和过去分词 )；(beseech的过去式与过去分词) | |
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68
lodge
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| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
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vestige
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| n.痕迹，遗迹，残余 | |
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