A Tale of a Tapu
ON the morrow of our arrival (Sunday, 14th July 1889) our photographers were early stirring. Once more we traversed a silent town; many were yet abed and asleep; some sat drowsily1 in their open houses; there was no sound of intercourse2 or business. In that hour before the shadows, the quarter of the palace and canal seemed like a landing-place in the ARABIAN NIGHTS or from the classic poets; here were the fit destination of some ‘faery frigot,’ here some adventurous4 prince might step ashore5 among new characters and incidents; and the island prison, where it floated on the luminous6 face of the lagoon7, might have passed for the repository of the Grail. In such a scene, and at such an hour, the impression received was not so much of foreign travel — rather of past ages; it seemed not so much degrees of latitude8 that we had crossed, as centuries of time that we had re-ascended; leaving, by the same steps, home and to-day. A few children followed us, mostly nude9, all silent; in the clear, weedy waters of the canal some silent damsels waded10, baring their brown thighs11; and to one of the maniap’s before the palace gate we were attracted by a low but stirring hum of speech.
The oval shed was full of men sitting cross-legged. The king was there in striped pyjamas12, his rear protected by four guards with Winchesters, his air and bearing marked by unwonted spirit and decision; tumblers and black bottles went the round; and the talk, throughout loud, was general and animated13. I was inclined at first to view this scene with suspicion. But the hour appeared unsuitable for a carouse14; drink was besides forbidden equally by the law of the land and the canons of the church; and while I was yet hesitating, the king’s rigorous attitude disposed of my last doubt. We had come, thinking to photograph him surrounded by his guards, and at the first word of the design his piety15 revolted. We were reminded of the day — the Sabbath, in which thou shalt take no photographs — and returned with a flea16 in our ear, bearing the rejected camera.
At church, a little later, I was struck to find the throne unoccupied. So nice a Sabbatarian might have found the means to be present; perhaps my doubts revived; and before I got home they were transformed to certainties. Tom, the bar-keeper of the SANS SOUCI, was in conversation with two emissaries from the court. The ‘keen,’ they said, wanted ‘din3,’ failing which ‘perandi.’ No din, was Tom’s reply, and no perandi; but ‘pira’ if they pleased. It seems they had no use for beer, and departed sorrowing.
‘Why, what is the meaning of all this?’ I asked. ‘Is the island on the spree?’
Such was the fact. On the 4th of July a feast had been made, and the king, at the suggestion of the whites, had raised the tapu against liquor. There is a proverb about horses; it scarce applies to the superior animal, of whom it may be rather said, that any one can start him drinking, not any twenty can prevail on him to stop. The tapu, raised ten days before, was not yet re-imposed; for ten days the town had been passing the bottle or lying (as we had seen it the afternoon before) in hoggish18 sleep; and the king, moved by the Old Men and his own appetites, continued to maintain the liberty, to squander19 his savings20 on liquor, and to join in and lead the debauch21. The whites were the authors of this crisis; it was upon their own proposal that the freedom had been granted at the first; and for a while, in the interests of trade, they were doubtless pleased it should continue. That pleasure had now sometime ceased; the bout17 had been prolonged (it was conceded) unduly22; and it now began to be a question how it might conclude. Hence Tom’s refusal. Yet that refusal was avowedly23 only for the moment, and it was avowedly unavailing; the king’s foragers, denied by Tom at the SANS SOUCI, would be supplied at THE LAND WE LIVE IN by the gobbling Mr. Williams.
The degree of the peril25 was not easy to measure at the time, and I am inclined to think now it was easy to exaggerate. Yet the conduct of drunkards even at home is always matter for anxiety; and at home our populations are not armed from the highest to the lowest with revolvers and repeating rifles, neither do we go on a debauch by the whole townful — and I might rather say, by the whole polity — king, magistrates26, police, and army joining in one common scene of drunkenness. It must be thought besides that we were here in barbarous islands, rarely visited, lately and partly civilised. First and last, a really considerable number of whites have perished in the Gilberts, chiefly through their own misconduct; and the natives have displayed in at least one instance a disposition27 to conceal28 an accident under a butchery, and leave nothing but dumb bones. This last was the chief consideration against a sudden closing of the bars; the bar-keepers stood in the immediate29 breach30 and dealt direct with madmen; too surly a refusal might at any moment precipitate31 a blow, and the blow might prove the signal for a massacre32.
MONDAY, 15th. — At the same hour we returned to the same muniap’. Kummel (of all drinks) was served in tumblers; in the midst sat the crown prince, a fatted youth, surrounded by fresh bottles and busily plying33 the corkscrew; and king, chief, and commons showed the loose mouth, the uncertain joints34, and the blurred35 and animated eye of the early drinker. It was plain we were impatiently expected; the king retired36 with alacrity37 to dress, the guards were despatched after their uniforms; and we were left to await the issue of these preparations with a shedful of tipsy natives. The orgie had proceeded further than on Sunday. The day promised to be of great heat; it was already sultry, the courtiers were already fuddled; and still the kummel continued to go round, and the crown prince to play butler. Flemish freedom followed upon Flemish excess; and a funny dog, a handsome fellow, gaily38 dressed, and with a full turban of frizzed hair, delighted the company with a humorous courtship of a lady in a manner not to be described. It was our diversion, in this time of waiting, to observe the gathering39 of the guards. They have European arms, European uniforms, and (to their sorrow) European shoes. We saw one warrior40 (like Mars) in the article of being armed; two men and a stalwart woman were scarce strong enough to boot him; and after a single appearance on parade the army is crippled for a week.
At last, the gates under the king’s house opened; the army issued, one behind another, with guns and epaulettes; the colours stooped under the gateway41; majesty42 followed in his uniform bedizened with gold lace; majesty’s wife came next in a hat and feathers, and an ample trained silk gown; the royal imps43 succeeded; there stood the pageantry of Makin marshalled on its chosen theatre. Dickens might have told how serious they were; how tipsy; how the king melted and streamed under his cocked hat; how he took station by the larger of his two cannons44 — austere45, majestic46, but not truly vertical47; how the troops huddled48, and were straightened out, and clubbed again; how they and their firelocks raked at various inclinations49 like the masts of ships; and how an amateur photographer reviewed, arrayed, and adjusted them, to see his dispositions50 change before he reached the camera.
The business was funny to see; I do not know that it is graceful51 to laugh at; and our report of these transactions was received on our return with the shaking of grave heads.
The day had begun ill; eleven hours divided us from sunset; and at any moment, on the most trifling52 chance, the trouble might begin. The Wightman compound was in a military sense untenable, commanded on three sides by houses and thick bush; the town was computed53 to contain over a thousand stand of excellent new arms; and retreat to the ships, in the case of an alert, was a recourse not to be thought of. Our talk that morning must have closely reproduced the talk in English garrisons54 before the Sepoy mutiny; the sturdy doubt that any mischief55 was in prospect56, the sure belief that (should any come) there was nothing left but to go down fighting, the half — amused, half-anxious attitude of mind in which we were awaiting fresh developments.
The kummel soon ran out; we were scarce returned before the king had followed us in quest of more. Mr. Corpse57 was now divested58 of his more awful attitude, the lawless bulk of him again encased in striped pyjamas; a guardsman brought up the rear with his rifle at the trail: and his majesty was further accompanied by a Rarotongan whalerman and the playful courtier with the turban of frizzed hair. There was never a more lively deputation. The whalerman was gapingly59, tearfully tipsy: the courtier walked on air; the king himself was even sportive. Seated in a chair in the Ricks’ sitting-room60, he bore the brunt of our prayers and menaces unmoved. He was even rated, plied24 with historic instances, threatened with the men-of-war, ordered to restore the tapu on the spot — and nothing in the least affected61 him. It should be done to-morrow, he said; to-day it was beyond his power, to-day he durst not. ‘Is that royal?’ cried indignant Mr. Rick. No, it was not royal; had the king been of a royal character we should ourselves have held a different language; and royal or not, he had the best of the dispute. The terms indeed were hardly equal; for the king was the only man who could restore the tapu, but the Ricks were not the only people who sold drink. He had but to hold his ground on the first question, and they were sure to weaken on the second. A little struggle they still made for the fashion’s sake; and then one exceedingly tipsy deputation departed, greatly rejoicing, a case of brandy wheeling beside them in a barrow. The Rarotongan (whom I had never seen before) wrung62 me by the hand like a man bound on a far voyage. ‘My dear frien’!’ he cried, ‘good-bye, my dear frien’!’ — tears of kummel standing63 in his eyes; the king lurched as he went, the courtier ambled64, — a strange party of intoxicated65 children to be entrusted66 with that barrowful of madness.
You could never say the town was quiet; all morning there was a ferment67 in the air, an aimless movement and congregation of natives in the street. But it was not before half-past one that a sudden hubbub68 of voices called us from the house, to find the whole white colony already gathered on the spot as by concerted signal. The SANS SOUCI was overrun with rabble69, the stair and verandah thronged70. From all these throats an inarticulate babbling71 cry went up incessantly72; it sounded like the bleating73 of young lambs, but angrier. In the road his royal highness (whom I had seen so lately in the part of butler) stood crying upon Tom; on the top step, tossed in the hurly-burly, Tom was shouting to the prince. Yet a while the pack swayed about the bar, vociferous74. Then came a brutal75 impulse; the mob reeled, and returned, and was rejected; the stair showed a stream of heads; and there shot into view, through the disbanding ranks, three men violently dragging in their midst a fourth. By his hair and his hands, his head forced as low as his knees, his face concealed76, he was wrenched77 from the verandah and whisked along the road into the village, howling as he disappeared. Had his face been raised, we should have seen it bloodied78, and the blood was not his own. The courtier with the turban of frizzed hair had paid the costs of this disturbance79 with the lower part of one ear.
So the brawl80 passed with no other casualty than might seem comic to the inhumane. Yet we looked round on serious faces and — a fact that spoke81 volumes — Tom was putting up the shutters82 on the bar. Custom might go elsewhere, Mr. Williams might profit as he pleased, but Tom had had enough of bar-keeping for that day. Indeed the event had hung on a hair. A man had sought to draw a revolver — on what quarrel I could never learn, and perhaps he himself could not have told; one shot, when the room was so crowded, could scarce have failed to take effect; where many were armed and all tipsy, it could scarce have failed to draw others; and the woman who spied the weapon and the man who seized it may very well have saved the white community.
The mob insensibly melted from the scene; and for the rest of the day our neighbourhood was left in peace and a good deal in solitude83. But the tranquillity84 was only local; DIN and PERANDI still flowed in other quarters: and we had one more sight of Gilbert Island violence. In the church, where we had wandered photographing, we were startled by a sudden piercing outcry. The scene, looking forth85 from the doors of that great hall of shadow, was unforgettable. The palms, the quaint86 and scattered87 houses, the flag of the island streaming from its tall staff, glowed with intolerable sunshine. In the midst two women rolled fighting on the grass. The combatants were the more easy to be distinguished88, because the one was stripped to the RIDI and the other wore a holoku (sacque) of some lively colour. The first was uppermost, her teeth locked in her adversary’s face, shaking her like a dog; the other impotently fought and scratched. So for a moment we saw them wallow and grapple there like vermin; then the mob closed and shut them in.
It was a serious question that night if we should sleep ashore. But we were travellers, folk that had come far in quest of the adventurous; on the first sign of an adventure it would have been a singular inconsistency to have withdrawn89; and we sent on board instead for our revolvers. Mindful of Taahauku, Mr. Rick, Mr. Osbourne, and Mrs. Stevenson held an assault of arms on the public highway, and fired at bottles to the admiration90 of the natives. Captain Reid of the EQUATOR stayed on shore with us to be at hand in case of trouble, and we retired to bed at the accustomed hour, agreeably excited by the day’s events. The night was exquisite91, the silence enchanting92; yet as I lay in my hammock looking on the strong moonshine and the quiescent93 palms, one ugly picture haunted me of the two women, the naked and the clad, locked in that hostile embrace. The harm done was probably not much, yet I could have looked on death and massacre with less revolt. The return to these primeval weapons, the vision of man’s beastliness, of his ferality, shocked in me a deeper sense than that with which we count the cost of battles. There are elements in our state and history which it is a pleasure to forget, which it is perhaps the better wisdom not to dwell on. Crime, pestilence94, and death are in the day’s work; the imagination readily accepts them. It instinctively95 rejects, on the contrary, whatever shall call up the image of our race upon its lowest terms, as the partner of beasts, beastly itself, dwelling96 pell-mell and hugger-mugger, hairy man with hairy woman, in the caves of old. And yet to be just to barbarous islanders we must not forget the slums and dens97 of our cities; I must not forget that I have passed dinnerward through Soho, and seen that which cured me of my dinner.
1 drowsily | |
adv.睡地,懒洋洋地,昏昏欲睡地 | |
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2 intercourse | |
n.性交;交流,交往,交际 | |
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3 din | |
n.喧闹声,嘈杂声 | |
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4 adventurous | |
adj.爱冒险的;惊心动魄的,惊险的,刺激的 | |
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5 ashore | |
adv.在(向)岸上,上岸 | |
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6 luminous | |
adj.发光的,发亮的;光明的;明白易懂的;有启发的 | |
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7 lagoon | |
n.泻湖,咸水湖 | |
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8 latitude | |
n.纬度,行动或言论的自由(范围),(pl.)地区 | |
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9 nude | |
adj.裸体的;n.裸体者,裸体艺术品 | |
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10 waded | |
(从水、泥等)蹚,走过,跋( wade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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11 thighs | |
n.股,大腿( thigh的名词复数 );食用的鸡(等的)腿 | |
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12 pyjamas | |
n.(宽大的)睡衣裤 | |
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13 animated | |
adj.生气勃勃的,活跃的,愉快的 | |
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14 carouse | |
v.狂欢;痛饮;n.狂饮的宴会 | |
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15 piety | |
n.虔诚,虔敬 | |
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16 flea | |
n.跳蚤 | |
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17 bout | |
n.侵袭,发作;一次(阵,回);拳击等比赛 | |
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18 hoggish | |
adj.贪婪的 | |
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19 squander | |
v.浪费,挥霍 | |
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20 savings | |
n.存款,储蓄 | |
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21 debauch | |
v.使堕落,放纵 | |
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22 unduly | |
adv.过度地,不适当地 | |
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23 avowedly | |
adv.公然地 | |
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24 plied | |
v.使用(工具)( ply的过去式和过去分词 );经常供应(食物、饮料);固定往来;经营生意 | |
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25 peril | |
n.(严重的)危险;危险的事物 | |
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26 magistrates | |
地方法官,治安官( magistrate的名词复数 ) | |
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27 disposition | |
n.性情,性格;意向,倾向;排列,部署 | |
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28 conceal | |
v.隐藏,隐瞒,隐蔽 | |
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29 immediate | |
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的 | |
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30 breach | |
n.违反,不履行;破裂;vt.冲破,攻破 | |
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31 precipitate | |
adj.突如其来的;vt.使突然发生;n.沉淀物 | |
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32 massacre | |
n.残杀,大屠杀;v.残杀,集体屠杀 | |
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33 plying | |
v.使用(工具)( ply的现在分词 );经常供应(食物、饮料);固定往来;经营生意 | |
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34 joints | |
接头( joint的名词复数 ); 关节; 公共场所(尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所) (非正式); 一块烤肉 (英式英语) | |
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35 blurred | |
v.(使)变模糊( blur的过去式和过去分词 );(使)难以区分;模模糊糊;迷离 | |
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36 retired | |
adj.隐退的,退休的,退役的 | |
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37 alacrity | |
n.敏捷,轻快,乐意 | |
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38 gaily | |
adv.欢乐地,高兴地 | |
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39 gathering | |
n.集会,聚会,聚集 | |
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40 warrior | |
n.勇士,武士,斗士 | |
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41 gateway | |
n.大门口,出入口,途径,方法 | |
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42 majesty | |
n.雄伟,壮丽,庄严,威严;最高权威,王权 | |
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43 imps | |
n.(故事中的)小恶魔( imp的名词复数 );小魔鬼;小淘气;顽童 | |
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44 cannons | |
n.加农炮,大炮,火炮( cannon的名词复数 ) | |
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45 austere | |
adj.艰苦的;朴素的,朴实无华的;严峻的 | |
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46 majestic | |
adj.雄伟的,壮丽的,庄严的,威严的,崇高的 | |
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47 vertical | |
adj.垂直的,顶点的,纵向的;n.垂直物,垂直的位置 | |
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48 huddled | |
挤在一起(huddle的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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49 inclinations | |
倾向( inclination的名词复数 ); 倾斜; 爱好; 斜坡 | |
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50 dispositions | |
安排( disposition的名词复数 ); 倾向; (财产、金钱的)处置; 气质 | |
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51 graceful | |
adj.优美的,优雅的;得体的 | |
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52 trifling | |
adj.微不足道的;没什么价值的 | |
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53 computed | |
adj.[医]计算的,使用计算机的v.计算,估算( compute的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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54 garrisons | |
守备部队,卫戍部队( garrison的名词复数 ) | |
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55 mischief | |
n.损害,伤害,危害;恶作剧,捣蛋,胡闹 | |
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56 prospect | |
n.前景,前途;景色,视野 | |
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57 corpse | |
n.尸体,死尸 | |
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58 divested | |
v.剥夺( divest的过去式和过去分词 );脱去(衣服);2。从…取去…;1。(给某人)脱衣服 | |
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59 gapingly | |
adv.多洞穴地 | |
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60 sitting-room | |
n.(BrE)客厅,起居室 | |
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61 affected | |
adj.不自然的,假装的 | |
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62 wrung | |
绞( wring的过去式和过去分词 ); 握紧(尤指别人的手); 把(湿衣服)拧干; 绞掉(水) | |
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63 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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64 ambled | |
v.(马)缓行( amble的过去式和过去分词 );从容地走,漫步 | |
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65 intoxicated | |
喝醉的,极其兴奋的 | |
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66 entrusted | |
v.委托,托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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67 ferment | |
vt.使发酵;n./vt.(使)激动,(使)动乱 | |
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68 hubbub | |
n.嘈杂;骚乱 | |
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69 rabble | |
n.乌合之众,暴民;下等人 | |
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70 thronged | |
v.成群,挤满( throng的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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71 babbling | |
n.胡说,婴儿发出的咿哑声adj.胡说的v.喋喋不休( babble的现在分词 );作潺潺声(如流水);含糊不清地说话;泄漏秘密 | |
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72 incessantly | |
ad.不停地 | |
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73 bleating | |
v.(羊,小牛)叫( bleat的现在分词 );哭诉;发出羊叫似的声音;轻声诉说 | |
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74 vociferous | |
adj.喧哗的,大叫大嚷的 | |
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75 brutal | |
adj.残忍的,野蛮的,不讲理的 | |
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76 concealed | |
a.隐藏的,隐蔽的 | |
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77 wrenched | |
v.(猛力地)扭( wrench的过去式和过去分词 );扭伤;使感到痛苦;使悲痛 | |
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78 bloodied | |
v.血污的( bloody的过去式和过去分词 );流血的;屠杀的;残忍的 | |
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79 disturbance | |
n.动乱,骚动;打扰,干扰;(身心)失调 | |
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80 brawl | |
n.大声争吵,喧嚷;v.吵架,对骂 | |
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81 spoke | |
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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82 shutters | |
百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 ); (照相机的)快门 | |
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83 solitude | |
n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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84 tranquillity | |
n. 平静, 安静 | |
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85 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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86 quaint | |
adj.古雅的,离奇有趣的,奇怪的 | |
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87 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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88 distinguished | |
adj.卓越的,杰出的,著名的 | |
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89 withdrawn | |
vt.收回;使退出;vi.撤退,退出 | |
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90 admiration | |
n.钦佩,赞美,羡慕 | |
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91 exquisite | |
adj.精美的;敏锐的;剧烈的,感觉强烈的 | |
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92 enchanting | |
a.讨人喜欢的 | |
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93 quiescent | |
adj.静止的,不活动的,寂静的 | |
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94 pestilence | |
n.瘟疫 | |
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95 instinctively | |
adv.本能地 | |
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96 dwelling | |
n.住宅,住所,寓所 | |
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97 dens | |
n.牙齿,齿状部分;兽窝( den的名词复数 );窝点;休息室;书斋 | |
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