“Da!” he said. “That which comes from here took them both — the woman and the child. Da! They came clasped within it and the stone shut upon them. But why it left the child behind I do not understand.”
“How do you know that?” I cried in amazement1.
“Because I saw it,” answered Marakinoff simply. “Not only did I see it, but hardly had I time to make escape through the entrance before it passed whirling and murmuring and its bell sounds all joyous2. Da! It was what you call the squeak3 close, that.”
“Wait a moment,” I said — stilling Larry with a gesture. “Do I understand you to say that you were within this place?”
Marakinoff actually beamed upon me.
“Da, Dr. Goodwin,” he said, “I went in when that which comes from it went out!”
I gaped4 at him, stricken dumb; into Larry’s bellicose5 attitude crept a suggestion of grudging6 respect; Olaf, trembling, watched silently.
“Dr. Goodwin and my impetuous young friend, you,” went on Marakinoff after a moment’s silence and I wondered vaguely7 why he did not include Huldricksson in his address —“it is time that we have an understanding. I have a proposal to make to you also. It is this; we are what you call a bad boat, and all of us are in it. Da! We need all hands, is it not so? Let us put together our knowledge and our brains and resources — and even a poonch of a mule9 is a resource,” he looked wickedly at O’Keefe, “and pull our boat into quiet waters again. After that —”
“All very well, Marakinoff,” interjected Larry, “but I don’t feel very safe in any boat with somebody capable of shooting me through the back.”
Marakinoff waved a deprecatory hand.
“It was natural that,” he said, “logical, da! Here is a very great secret, perhaps many secrets to my country invaluable10 —” He paused, shaken by some overpowering emotion; the veins11 in his forehead grew congested, the cold eyes blazed and the guttural voice harshened.
“I do not apologize and I do not explain,” rasped Marakinoff. “But I will tell you, da! Here is my country sweating blood in an experiment to liberate13 the world. And here are the other nations ringing us like wolves and waiting to spring at our throats at the least sign of weakness. And here are you, Lieutenant14 O’Keefe of the English wolves, and you Dr. Goodwin of the Yankee pack — and here in this place may be that will enable my country to win its war for the worker. What are the lives of you two and this sailor to that? Less than the flies I crush with my hand, less than midges in the sunbeam!”
He suddenly gripped himself.
“But that is not now the important thing,” he resumed, almost coldly. “Not that nor my shooting. Let us squarely the situation face. My proposal is so: that we join interests, and what you call see it through together; find our way through this place and those secrets learn of which I have spoken, if we can. And when that is done we will go our ways, to his own land each, to make use of them for our lands as each of us may. On my part, I offer my knowledge — and it is very valuable, Dr. Goodwin — and my training. You and Lieutenant O’Keefe do the same, and this man Olaf, what he can of his strength, for I do not think his usefulness lies in his brains, no.”
“In effect, Goodwin,” broke in Larry as I hesitated, “the professor’s proposition is this: he wants to know what’s going on here but he begins to realize it’s no one man’s job and besides we have the drop on him. We’re three to his one, and we have all his hardware and cutlery. But also we can do better with him than without him — just as he can do better with us than without us. It’s an even break — for a while. But once he gets that information he’s looking for, then look out. You and Olaf and I are the wolves and the flies and the midges again — and the strafing will be about due. Nevertheless, with three to one against him, if he can get away with it he deserves to. I’m for taking him up, if you are.”
There was almost a twinkle in Marakinoff’s eyes.
“It is not just as I would have put it, perhaps,” he said, “but in its skeleton he has right. Nor will I turn my hand against you while we are still in danger here. I pledge you my honor on this.”
Larry laughed.
“All right, Professor,” he grinned. “I believe you mean every word you say. Nevertheless, I’ll just keep the guns.”
Marakinoff bowed, imperturbably15.
“And now,” he said, “I will tell you what I know. I found the secret of the door mechanism16 even as you did, Dr. Goodwin. But by carelessness, my condensers17 were broken. I was forced to wait while I sent for others — and the waiting might be for months. I took certain precautions, and on the first night of this full moon I hid myself within the vault18 of Chau-ta-leur.”
An involuntary thrill of admiration19 for the man went through me at the manifest heroism20 of this leap in the dark. I could see it reflected in Larry’s face.
“I hid in the vault,” continued Marakinoff, “and I saw that which comes from here come out. I waited — long hours. At last, when the moon was low, it returned — ecstatically — with a man, a native, in embrace enfolded. It passed through the door, and soon then the moon became low and the door closed.
“The next night more confidence was mine, yes. And after that which comes had gone, I looked through its open door. I said, ‘It will not return for three hours. While it is away, why shall I not into its home go through the door it has left open?’ So I went — even to here. I looked at the pillars of light and I tested the liquid of the Pool on which they fell. That liquid, Dr. Goodwin, is not water, and it is not any fluid known on earth.” He handed me a small vial, its neck held in a long thong21.
“Take this,” he said, “and see.”
Wonderingly, I took the bottle; dipped it down into the Pool. The liquid was extraordinarily22 light; seemed, in fact, to give the vial buoyancy. I held it to the light. It was striated23, streaked24, as though little living, pulsing veins ran through it. And its blueness, even in the vial, held an intensity25 of luminousness27.
“Radioactive,” said Marakinoff. “Some liquid that is intensely radioactive; but what it is I know not at all. Upon the living skin it acts like radium raised to the nth power and with an element most mysterious added. The solution with which I treated him,” he pointed28 to Huldricksson, “I had prepared before I came here, from certain information I had. It is largely salts of radium and its base is Loeb’s formula for the neutralization29 of radium and X-ray burns. Taking this man at once, before the degeneration had become really active, I could negative it. But after two hours I could have done nothing.”
He paused a moment.
“Next I studied the nature of these luminous26 walls. I concluded that whoever had made them, knew the secret of the Almighty’s manufacture of light from the ether itself! Colossal31! Da! But the substance of these blocks confines an atomic — how would you say — atomic manipulation, a conscious arrangement of electrons, light-emitting and perhaps indefinitely so. These blocks are lamps in which oil and wick are electrons drawing light waves from ether itself! A Prometheus, indeed, this discoverer! I looked at my watch and that little guardian32 warned me that it was time to go. I went. That which comes forth33 returned — this time empty-handed.
“And the next night I did the same thing. Engrossed34 in research, I let the moments go by to the danger point, and scarcely was I replaced within the vault when the shining thing raced over the walls, and in its grip the woman and child.
“Then you came — and that is all. And now — what is it you know?”
Very briefly35 I went over my story. His eyes gleamed now and then, but he did not interrupt me.
“A great secret! A colossal secret!” he muttered, when I had ended. “We cannot leave it hidden.”
“The first thing to do is to try the door,” said Larry, matter of fact.
“There is no use, my young friend,” assured Marakinoff mildly.
“Nevertheless we’ll try,” said Larry. We retraced36 our way through the winding37 tunnel to the end, but soon even O’Keefe saw that any idea of moving the slab38 from within was hopeless. We returned to the Chamber39 of the Pool. The pillars of light were fainter, and we knew that the moon was sinking. On the world outside before long dawn would be breaking. I began to feel thirst — and the blue semblance41 of water within the silvery rim12 seemed to glint mockingly as my eyes rested on it.
“Da!” it was Marakinoff, reading my thoughts uncannily. “Da! We will be thirsty. And it will be very bad for him of us who loses control and drinks of that, my friend. Da!”
Larry threw back his shoulders as though shaking a burden from them.
“This place would give an angel of joy the willies,” he said. “I suggest that we look around and find something that will take us somewhere. You can bet the people that built it had more ways of getting in than that once-a-month family entrance. Doc, you and Olaf take the left wall; the professor and I will take the right.”
He loosened one of his automatics with a suggestive movement.
“After you, Professor,” he bowed, politely, to the Russian. We parted and set forth.
The chamber widened out from the portal in what seemed to be the arc of an immense circle. The shining walls held a perceptible curve, and from this curvature I estimated that the roof was fully42 three hundred feet above us.
The floor was of smooth, mosaic-fitted blocks of a faintly yellow tinge43. They were not light-emitting like the blocks that formed the walls. The radiance from these latter, I noted44, had the peculiar45 quality of THICKENING a few yards from its source, and it was this that produced the effect of misty46, veiled distances. As we walked, the seven columns of rays streaming down from the crystalline globes high above us waned47 steadily48; the glow within the chamber lost its prismatic shimmer49 and became an even grey tone somewhat like moonlight in a thin cloud.
Now before us, out from the wall, jutted50 a low terrace. It was all of a pearly rose-coloured stone, slender, graceful51 pillars of the same hue52. The face of the terrace was about ten feet high, and all over it ran a bas-relief of what looked like short-trailing vines, surmounted53 by five stalks, on the tip of each of which was a flower.
We passed along the terrace. It turned in an abrupt54 curve. I heard a hail, and there, fifty feet away, at the curving end of a wall identical with that where we stood, were Larry and Marakinoff. Obviously the left side of the chamber was a duplicate of that we had explored. We joined. In front of us the columned barriers ran back a hundred feet, forming an alcove55. The end of this alcove was another wall of the same rose stone, but upon it the design of vines was much heavier.
We took a step forward — there was a gasp56 of awe57 from the Norseman, a guttural exclamation58 from Marakinoff. For on, or rather within, the wall before us, a great oval began to glow, waxed almost to a flame and then shone steadily out as though from behind it a light was streaming through the stone itself!
And within the roseate oval two flame-tipped shadows appeared, stood for a moment, and then seemed to float out upon its surface. The shadows wavered; the tips of flame that nimbused them with flickering59 points of vermilion pulsed outward, drew back, darted60 forth again, and once more withdrew themselves — and as they did so the shadows thickened — and suddenly there before us stood two figures!
One was a girl — a girl whose great eyes were golden as the fabled61 lilies of Kwan–Yung that were born of the kiss of the sun upon the amber40 goddess the demons62 of Lao–Tz’e carved for him; whose softly curved lips were red as the royal coral, and whose golden-brown hair reached to her knees!
And the second was a gigantic frog — A WOMAN frog, head helmeted with carapace63 of shell around which a fillet of brilliant yellow jewels shone; enormous round eyes of blue circled with a broad iris64 of green; monstrous65 body of banded orange and white girdled with strand66 upon strand of the flashing yellow gems67; six feet high if an inch, and with one webbed paw of its short, powerfully muscled forelegs resting upon the white shoulder of the golden-eyed girl!
Moments must have passed as we stood in stark68 amazement, gazing at that incredible apparition69. The two figures, although as real as any of those who stood beside me, unphantomlike as it is possible to be, had a distinct suggestion of — projection70.
They were there before us — golden-eyed girl and grotesque71 frog-woman — complete in every line and curve; and still it was as though their bodies passed back through distances; as though, to try to express the wellnigh inexpressible, the two shapes we were looking upon were the end of an infinite number stretching in fine linked chain far away, of which the eyes saw only the nearest, while in the brain some faculty72 higher than sight recognized and registered the unseen others.
The gigantic eyes of the frog-woman took us all in-unwinkingly. Little glints of phosphorescence shone out within the metallic73 green of the outer iris ring. She stood upright, her great legs bowed; the monstrous slit74 of a mouth slightly open, revealing a row of white teeth sharp and pointed as lancets; the paw resting on the girl’s shoulder, half covering its silken surface, and from its five webbed digits75 long yellow claws of polished horn glistened76 against the delicate texture77 of the flesh.
But if the frog-woman regarded us all, not so did the maiden78 of the rosy79 wall. Her eyes were fastened upon Larry, drinking him in with extraordinary intentness. She was tall, far over the average of women, almost as tall, indeed, as O’Keefe himself; not more than twenty years old, if that, I thought. Abruptly80 she leaned forward, the golden eyes softened81 and grew tender; the red lips moved as though she were speaking.
Larry took a quick step, and his face was that of one who after countless82 births comes at last upon the twin soul lost to him for ages. The frog-woman turned her eyes upon the girl; her huge lips moved, and I knew that she was talking! The girl held out a warning hand to O’Keefe, and then raised it, resting each finger upon one of the five flowers of the carved vine close beside her. Once, twice, three times, she pressed upon the flower centres, and I noted that her hand was curiously83 long and slender, the digits like those wonderful tapering84 ones the painters we call the primitive85 gave to their Virgins86.
Three times she pressed the flowers, and then looked intently at Larry once more. A slow, sweet smile curved the crimson87 lips. She stretched both hands out toward him again eagerly; a burning blush rose swiftly over white breasts and flowerlike face.
Like the clicking out of a cinematograph, the pulsing oval faded and golden-eyed girl and frog-woman were gone!
And thus it was that Lakla, the handmaiden of the Silent Ones, and Larry O’Keefe first looked into each other’s hearts!
Larry stood rapt, gazing at the stone.
“Eilidh,” I heard him whisper; “Eilidh of the lips like the red, red rowan and the golden-brown hair!”
“Clearly of the Ranadae,” said Marakinoff, “a development of the fossil Labyrinthodonts: you saw her teeth, da?”
“Ranadae, yes,” I answered. “But from the Stegocephalia; of the order Ecaudata —”
Never such a complete indignation as was in O’Keefe’s voice as he interrupted.
“What do you mean — fossils and Stego whatever it is?” he asked. “She was a girl, a wonder girl — a real girl, and Irish, or I’m not an O’Keefe!”
“We were talking about the frog-woman, Larry,” I said, conciliatingly.
His eyes were wild as he regarded us.
“Say,” he said, “if you two had been in the Garden of Eden when Eve took the apple, you wouldn’t have had time to give her a look for counting the scales on the snake!”
He strode swiftly over to the wall. We followed. Larry paused, stretched his hand up to the flowers on which the tapering fingers of the golden-eyed girl had rested.
“It was here she put up her hand,” he murmured. He pressed caressingly88 the carved calyxes, once, twice, a third time even as she had — and silently and softly the wall began to split; on each side a great stone pivoted89 slowly, and before us a portal stood, opening into a narrow corridor glowing with the same rosy lustre90 that had gleamed around the flame-tipped shadows!
“Have your gun ready, Olaf!” said Larry. “We follow Golden Eyes,” he said to me.
“Follow?” I echoed stupidly.
“Follow!” he said. “She came to show us the way! Follow? I’d follow her through a thousand hells!”
And with Olaf at one end, O’Keefe at the other, both of them with automatics in hand, and Marakinoff and I between them, we stepped over the threshold.
At our right, a few feet away, the passage ended abruptly in a square of polished stone, from which came faint rose radiance. The roof of the place was less than two feet over O’Keefe’s head.
A yard at left of us lifted a four-foot high, gently curved barricade91, stretching from wall to wall — and beyond it was blackness; an utter and appalling92 blackness that seemed to gather itself from infinite depths. The rose-glow in which we stood was cut off by the blackness as though it had substance; it shimmered93 out to meet it, and was checked as though by a blow; indeed, so strong was the suggestion of sinister94, straining force within the rayless opacity95 that I shrank back, and Marakinoff with me. Not so O’Keefe. Olaf beside him, he strode to the wall and peered over. He beckoned96 us.
“Flash your pocket-light down there,” he said to me, pointing into the thick darkness below us. The little electric circle quivered down as though afraid, and came to rest upon a surface that resembled nothing so much as clear, black ice. I ran the light across — here and there. The floor of the corridor was of a substance so smooth, so polished, that no man could have walked upon it; it sloped downward at a slowly increasing angle.
“We’d have to have non-skid chains and brakes on our feet to tackle that,” mused97 Larry. Abstractedly be ran his hands over the edge on which he was leaning. Suddenly they hesitated and then gripped tightly.
“That’s a queer one!” he exclaimed. His right palm was resting upon a rounded protuberance, on the side of which were three small circular indentations.
“A queer one —” he repeated — and pressed his fingers upon the circles.
There was a sharp click; the slabs98 that had opened to let us through swung swiftly together; a curiously rapid vibration99 thrilled through us, a wind arose and passed over our heads — a wind that grew and grew until it became a whistling shriek100, then a roar and then a mighty30 humming, to which every atom in our bodies pulsed in rhythm painful almost to disintegration101!
The rosy wall dwindled102 in a flash to a point of light and disappeared!
Wrapped in the clinging, impenetrable blackness we were racing103, dropping, hurling104 at a frightful105 speed — where?
And ever that awful humming of the rushing wind and the lightning cleaving106 of the tangible107 dark — so, it came to me oddly, must the newly released soul race through the sheer blackness of outer space up to that Throne of Justice, where God sits high above all suns!
I felt Marakinoff creep close to me; gripped my nerve and flashed my pocket-light; saw Larry standing8, peering, peering ahead, and Huldricksson, one strong arm around his shoulders, bracing108 him. And then the speed began to slacken.
Millions of miles, it seemed, below the sound of the unearthly hurricane I heard Larry’s voice, thin and ghostlike, beneath its clamour.
“Got it!” shrilled109 the voice. “Got it! Don’t worry!”
The wind died down to the roar, passed back into the whistling shriek and diminished to a steady whisper. In the comparative quiet O’Keefe’s tones now came in normal volume.
“Some little shoot-the-chutes, what?” he shouted. “Say — if they had this at Coney Island or the Crystal Palace! Press all the way in these holes and she goes top-high. Diminish pressure — diminish speed. The curve of this — dashboard — here sends the wind shooting up over our heads — like a windshield. What’s behind you?”
I flashed the light back. The mechanism on which we were ended in another wall exactly similar to that over which O’Keefe crouched110.
“Well, we can’t fall out, anyway,” he laughed. “Wish to hell I knew where the brakes were! Look out!”
We dropped dizzily down an abrupt, seemingly endless slope; fell — fell as into an abyss — then shot abruptly out of the blackness into a throbbing111 green radiance. O’Keefe’s fingers must have pressed down upon the controls, for we leaped forward almost with the speed of light. I caught a glimpse of luminous immensities on the verge112 of which we flew; of depths inconceivable, and flitting through the incredible spaces — gigantic shadows as of the wings of Israfel, which are so wide, say the Arabs, the world can cower113 under them like a nestling — and then — again the living blackness!
“What was that?” This from Larry, with the nearest approach to awe that he had yet shown.
“Trolldom!” croaked114 the voice of Olaf.
“Chert!” This from Marakinoff. “What a space!”
“Have you considered, Dr. Goodwin,” be went on after a pause, “a curious thing? We know, or, at least, is it not that nine out of ten astronomers115 believe, that the moon was hurled116 out of this same region we now call the Pacific when the earth was yet like molasses; almost molten, I should say. And is it not curious that that which comes from the Moon Chamber needs the moon-rays to bring it forth; is it not? And is it not significant again that the stone depends upon the moon for operating? Da! And last — such a space in mother earth as we just glimpsed, how else could it have been torn but by some gigantic birth — like that of the moon? Da! I do not put forward these as statements of fact — no! But as suggestions —”
I started; there was so much that this might explain — an unknown element that responded to the moon-rays in opening the moon door; the blue Pool with its weird117 radioactivity, and the force within it that reacted to the same light stream —
It was not inconceivable that a film had drawn118 over the world wound, a film of earth-flesh which drew itself over that colossal abyss after our planet had borne its satellite — that world womb did not close when her shining child sprang forth — it was possible; and all that we know of earth depth is four miles of her eight thousand.
What is there at the heart of earth? What of that radiant unknown element upon the moon mount Tycho? What of that element unknown to us as part of earth which is seen only in the corona119 of the sun at eclipse that we call coronium? Yet the earth is child of the sun as the moon is earth’s daughter. And what of that other unknown element we find glowing green in the far-flung nebulae — green as that we had just passed through — and that we call nebulium? Yet the sun is child of the nebulae as the earth is child of the sun and the moon is child of the earth.
And what miracles are there in coronium and nebulium which, as the child of nebula120 and sun, we inherit? Yes — and in Tycho’s enigma121 which came from earth heart?
We were flashing down to earth heart! And what miracles were hidden there?
点击收听单词发音
1 amazement | |
n.惊奇,惊讶 | |
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2 joyous | |
adj.充满快乐的;令人高兴的 | |
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3 squeak | |
n.吱吱声,逃脱;v.(发出)吱吱叫,侥幸通过;(俚)告密 | |
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4 gaped | |
v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的过去式和过去分词 );张开,张大 | |
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5 bellicose | |
adj.好战的;好争吵的 | |
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6 grudging | |
adj.勉强的,吝啬的 | |
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7 vaguely | |
adv.含糊地,暖昧地 | |
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8 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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9 mule | |
n.骡子,杂种,执拗的人 | |
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10 invaluable | |
adj.无价的,非常宝贵的,极为贵重的 | |
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11 veins | |
n.纹理;矿脉( vein的名词复数 );静脉;叶脉;纹理 | |
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12 rim | |
n.(圆物的)边,轮缘;边界 | |
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13 liberate | |
v.解放,使获得自由,释出,放出;vt.解放,使获自由 | |
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14 lieutenant | |
n.陆军中尉,海军上尉;代理官员,副职官员 | |
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15 imperturbably | |
adv.泰然地,镇静地,平静地 | |
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16 mechanism | |
n.机械装置;机构,结构 | |
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17 condensers | |
n.冷凝器( condenser的名词复数 );(尤指汽车发动机内的)电容器 | |
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18 vault | |
n.拱形圆顶,地窖,地下室 | |
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19 admiration | |
n.钦佩,赞美,羡慕 | |
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20 heroism | |
n.大无畏精神,英勇 | |
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21 thong | |
n.皮带;皮鞭;v.装皮带 | |
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22 extraordinarily | |
adv.格外地;极端地 | |
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23 striated | |
adj.有纵线,条纹的 | |
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24 streaked | |
adj.有条斑纹的,不安的v.快速移动( streak的过去式和过去分词 );使布满条纹 | |
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25 intensity | |
n.强烈,剧烈;强度;烈度 | |
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26 luminous | |
adj.发光的,发亮的;光明的;明白易懂的;有启发的 | |
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27 luminousness | |
透光率 | |
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28 pointed | |
adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
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29 neutralization | |
n.中立化,中立状态,中和 | |
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30 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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31 colossal | |
adj.异常的,庞大的 | |
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32 guardian | |
n.监护人;守卫者,保护者 | |
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33 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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34 engrossed | |
adj.全神贯注的 | |
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35 briefly | |
adv.简单地,简短地 | |
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36 retraced | |
v.折回( retrace的过去式和过去分词 );回忆;回顾;追溯 | |
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37 winding | |
n.绕,缠,绕组,线圈 | |
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38 slab | |
n.平板,厚的切片;v.切成厚板,以平板盖上 | |
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39 chamber | |
n.房间,寝室;会议厅;议院;会所 | |
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40 amber | |
n.琥珀;琥珀色;adj.琥珀制的 | |
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41 semblance | |
n.外貌,外表 | |
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42 fully | |
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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43 tinge | |
vt.(较淡)着色于,染色;使带有…气息;n.淡淡色彩,些微的气息 | |
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44 noted | |
adj.著名的,知名的 | |
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45 peculiar | |
adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的 | |
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46 misty | |
adj.雾蒙蒙的,有雾的 | |
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47 waned | |
v.衰落( wane的过去式和过去分词 );(月)亏;变小;变暗淡 | |
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48 steadily | |
adv.稳定地;不变地;持续地 | |
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49 shimmer | |
v./n.发微光,发闪光;微光 | |
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50 jutted | |
v.(使)突出( jut的过去式和过去分词 );伸出;(从…)突出;高出 | |
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51 graceful | |
adj.优美的,优雅的;得体的 | |
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52 hue | |
n.色度;色调;样子 | |
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53 surmounted | |
战胜( surmount的过去式和过去分词 ); 克服(困难); 居于…之上; 在…顶上 | |
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54 abrupt | |
adj.突然的,意外的;唐突的,鲁莽的 | |
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55 alcove | |
n.凹室 | |
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56 gasp | |
n.喘息,气喘;v.喘息;气吁吁他说 | |
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57 awe | |
n.敬畏,惊惧;vt.使敬畏,使惊惧 | |
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58 exclamation | |
n.感叹号,惊呼,惊叹词 | |
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59 flickering | |
adj.闪烁的,摇曳的,一闪一闪的 | |
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60 darted | |
v.投掷,投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 );向前冲,飞奔 | |
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61 fabled | |
adj.寓言中的,虚构的 | |
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62 demons | |
n.恶人( demon的名词复数 );恶魔;精力过人的人;邪念 | |
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63 carapace | |
n.(蟹或龟的)甲壳 | |
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64 iris | |
n.虹膜,彩虹 | |
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65 monstrous | |
adj.巨大的;恐怖的;可耻的,丢脸的 | |
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66 strand | |
vt.使(船)搁浅,使(某人)困于(某地) | |
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67 gems | |
growth; economy; management; and customer satisfaction 增长 | |
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68 stark | |
adj.荒凉的;严酷的;完全的;adv.完全地 | |
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69 apparition | |
n.幽灵,神奇的现象 | |
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70 projection | |
n.发射,计划,突出部分 | |
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71 grotesque | |
adj.怪诞的,丑陋的;n.怪诞的图案,怪人(物) | |
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72 faculty | |
n.才能;学院,系;(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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73 metallic | |
adj.金属的;金属制的;含金属的;产金属的;像金属的 | |
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74 slit | |
n.狭长的切口;裂缝;vt.切开,撕裂 | |
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75 digits | |
n.数字( digit的名词复数 );手指,足趾 | |
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76 glistened | |
v.湿物闪耀,闪亮( glisten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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77 texture | |
n.(织物)质地;(材料)构造;结构;肌理 | |
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78 maiden | |
n.少女,处女;adj.未婚的,纯洁的,无经验的 | |
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79 rosy | |
adj.美好的,乐观的,玫瑰色的 | |
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80 abruptly | |
adv.突然地,出其不意地 | |
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81 softened | |
(使)变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 ); 缓解打击; 缓和; 安慰 | |
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82 countless | |
adj.无数的,多得不计其数的 | |
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83 curiously | |
adv.有求知欲地;好问地;奇特地 | |
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84 tapering | |
adj.尖端细的 | |
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85 primitive | |
adj.原始的;简单的;n.原(始)人,原始事物 | |
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86 virgins | |
处女,童男( virgin的名词复数 ); 童贞玛利亚(耶稣之母) | |
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87 crimson | |
n./adj.深(绯)红色(的);vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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88 caressingly | |
爱抚地,亲切地 | |
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89 pivoted | |
adj.转动的,回转的,装在枢轴上的v.(似)在枢轴上转动( pivot的过去式和过去分词 );把…放在枢轴上;以…为核心,围绕(主旨)展开 | |
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90 lustre | |
n.光亮,光泽;荣誉 | |
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91 barricade | |
n.路障,栅栏,障碍;vt.设路障挡住 | |
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92 appalling | |
adj.骇人听闻的,令人震惊的,可怕的 | |
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93 shimmered | |
v.闪闪发光,发微光( shimmer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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94 sinister | |
adj.不吉利的,凶恶的,左边的 | |
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95 opacity | |
n.不透明;难懂 | |
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96 beckoned | |
v.(用头或手的动作)示意,召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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97 mused | |
v.沉思,冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 );沉思自语说(某事) | |
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98 slabs | |
n.厚板,平板,厚片( slab的名词复数 );厚胶片 | |
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99 vibration | |
n.颤动,振动;摆动 | |
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100 shriek | |
v./n.尖叫,叫喊 | |
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101 disintegration | |
n.分散,解体 | |
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102 dwindled | |
v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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103 racing | |
n.竞赛,赛马;adj.竞赛用的,赛马用的 | |
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104 hurling | |
n.爱尔兰式曲棍球v.猛投,用力掷( hurl的现在分词 );大声叫骂 | |
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105 frightful | |
adj.可怕的;讨厌的 | |
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106 cleaving | |
v.劈开,剁开,割开( cleave的现在分词 ) | |
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107 tangible | |
adj.有形的,可触摸的,确凿的,实际的 | |
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108 bracing | |
adj.令人振奋的 | |
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109 shrilled | |
(声音)尖锐的,刺耳的,高频率的( shrill的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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110 crouched | |
v.屈膝,蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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111 throbbing | |
a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
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112 verge | |
n.边,边缘;v.接近,濒临 | |
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113 cower | |
v.畏缩,退缩,抖缩 | |
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114 croaked | |
v.呱呱地叫( croak的过去式和过去分词 );用粗的声音说 | |
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115 astronomers | |
n.天文学者,天文学家( astronomer的名词复数 ) | |
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116 hurled | |
v.猛投,用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 );大声叫骂 | |
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117 weird | |
adj.古怪的,离奇的;怪诞的,神秘而可怕的 | |
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118 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
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119 corona | |
n.日冕 | |
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120 nebula | |
n.星云,喷雾剂 | |
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121 enigma | |
n.谜,谜一样的人或事 | |
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