We were pacing down the length of the bridge, guards of the Akka beside us, others following with those companies of ladala that had rushed to aid us; in front of us the bandaged Rador swung gently within a litter; beside him, in another, lay Nak, the frog-king — much less of him than there had been before the battle began, but living.
Hours had passed since the terror I have just related. My first task had been to search for Throckmartin and his wife among the fallen multitudes strewn thick as autumn leaves along the flying arch of stone, over the cavern2 ledge3, and back, back as far as the eye could reach.
At last, Lakla and Larry helping4, we found them. They lay close to the bridge-end, not parted — locked tight in each other’s arms, pallid5 face to face, her hair streaming over his breast! As though when that unearthly life the Dweller6 had set within them passed away, their own had come back for one fleeting7 instant — and they had known each other, and clasped before kindly8 death had taken them.
“Love is stronger than all things.” The handmaiden was weeping softly. “Love never left them. Love was stronger than the Shining One. And when its evil fled, love went with them — wherever souls go.”
Of Stanton and Thora there was no trace; nor, after our discovery of those other two, did I care to look more. They were dead — and they were free.
We buried Throckmartin and Edith beside Olaf in Lakla’s bower10. But before the body of my old friend was placed within the grave I gave it a careful and sorrowful examination. The skin was firm and smooth, but cold; not the cold of death, but with a chill that set my touching11 fingers tingling12 unpleasantly. The body was bloodless; the course of veins13 and arteries14 marked by faintly indented15 white furrows16, as though their walls had long collapsed18. Lips, mouth, even the tongue, was paper white. There was no sign of dissolution as we know it; no shadow or stain upon the marble surface. Whatever the force that, streaming from the Dweller or impregnating its lair19, had energized20 the dead-alive, it was barrier against putrescence of any kind; that at least was certain.
But it was not barrier against the poison of the Medusae, for, our sad task done, and looking down upon the waters, I saw the pale forms of the Dweller’s hordes21 dissolving, vanishing into the shifting glories of the gigantic moons sailing down upon them from every quarter of the Sea of Crimson22.
While the frog-men, those late levies23 from the farthest forests, were clearing bridge and ledge of cavern of the litter of the dead, we listened to a leader of the ladala. They had risen, even as the messenger had promised Rador. Fierce had been the struggle in the gardened city by the silver waters with those Lugur and Yolara bad left behind to garrison24 it. Deadly had been the slaughter25 of the fair-haired, reaping the harvest of hatred26 they had been sowing so long. Not without a pang27 of regret did I think of the beautiful, gaily28 malicious29 elfin women destroyed — evil though they may have been.
The ancient city of Lara was a charnel. Of all the rulers not twoscore had escaped, and these into regions of peril30 which to describe as sanctuary31 would be mockery. Nor had the ladala fared so well. Of all the men and women, for women as well as men had taken their part in the swift war, not more than a tenth remained alive.
And the dancing motes32 of light in the silver air were thick, thick — they whispered.
They told us of the Shining One rushing through the Veil, cometlike, its hosts streaming behind it, raging with it, in ranks that seemed interminable!
Of the massacre33 of the priests and priestesses in the Cyclopean temple; of the flashing forth34 of the summoning lights by unseen hands — followed by the tearing of the rainbow curtain, by colossal35 shatterings of the radiant cliffs; the vanishing behind their debris36 of all trace of entrance to the haunted place wherein the hordes of the Shining One had slaved — the sealing of the lair!
Then, when the tempest of hate had ended in seething37 Lara, how, thrilled with victory, armed with the weapons of those they had slain38, they had lifted the Shadow, passed through the Portal, met and slaughtered39 the fleeing remnants of Yolara’s men — only to find the tempest stilled here, too.
But of Marakinoff they had seen nothing! Had the Russian escaped, I wondered, or was he lying out there among the dead?
But now the ladala were calling upon Lakla to come with them, to govern them.
“I don’t want to, Larry darlin’,” she told him. “I want to go out with you to Ireland. But for a time — I think the Three would have us remain and set that place in order.”
The O’Keefe was bothered about something else than the government of Muria.
“If they’ve killed off all the priests, who’s to marry us, heart of mine?” he worried. “None of those Siya and Siyana rites40, no matter what,” he added hastily.
“Marry!” cried the handmaiden incredulously. “Marry us? Why, Larry dear, we ARE married!”
The O’Keefe’s astonishment41 was complete; his jaw42 dropped; collapse17 seemed imminent43.
“We are?” he gasped44. “When?” he stammered45 fatuously46.
“Why, when the Mother drew us together before her; when she put her hands on our heads after we had made the promise! Didn’t you understand that?” asked the handmaiden wonderingly.
He looked at her, into the purity of the clear golden eyes, into the purity of the soul that gazed out of them; all his own great love transfiguring his keen face.
“An’ is that enough for you, mavourneen?” he whispered humbly47.
“Enough?” The handmaiden’s puzzlement was complete, profound. “Enough? Larry darlin’, what MORE could we ask?”
He drew a deep breath, clasped her close.
“Kiss the bride, Doc!” cried the O’Keefe. And for the third and, soul’s sorrow! the last time, Lakla dimpling and blushing, I thrilled to the touch of her soft, sweet lips.
Quickly were our preparations for departure made. Rador, conscious, his immense vitality48 conquering fast his wounds, was to be borne ahead of us. And when all was done, Lakla, Larry, and I made our way up to the scarlet49 stone that was the doorway50 to the chamber51 of the Three. We knew, of course, that they had gone, following, no doubt, those whose eyes I had seen in the curdled52 mists, and who, coming to the aid of the Three at last from whatever mysterious place that was their home, had thrown their strength with them against the Shining One. Nor were we wrong. When the great slab53 rolled away, no torrents54 of opalescence56 came rushing out upon us. The vast dome57 was dim, tenantless58; its curved walls that had cascaded59 Light shone now but faintly; the dais was empty; its wall of moon-flame radiance gone.
A little time we stood, heads bent60, reverent61, our hearts filled with gratitude62 and love — yes, and with pity for that strange trinity so alien to us and yet so near; children even as we, though so unlike us, of our same Mother Earth.
And what I wondered had been the secret of that promise they had wrung63 from their handmaiden and from Larry. And whence, if what the Three had said had been all true — whence had come their power to avert64 the sacrifice at the very verge65 of its consummation?
“Love is stronger than all things!” had said Lakla.
Was it that they had needed, must have, the force which dwells within love, within willing sacrifice, to strengthen their own power and to enable them to destroy the evil, glorious Thing so long shielded by their own love? Did the thought of sacrifice, the will toward abnegation, have to be as strong as the eternals, unshaken by faintest thrill of hope, before the Three could make of it their key to unlock the Dweller’s guard and strike through at its life?
Here was a mystery — a mystery indeed! Lakla softly closed the crimson stone. The mystery of the red dwarf’s appearance was explained when we discovered a half-dozen of the water coria moored66 in a small cove9 not far from where the Sekta flashed their heads of living bloom. The dwarfs67 had borne the shallops with them, and from somewhere beyond the cavern ledge had launched them unperceived; stealing up to the farther side of the island and risking all in one bold stroke. Well, Lugur, no matter what he held of wickedness, held also high courage.
The cavern was paved with the dead-alive, the Akka carrying them out by the hundreds, casting them into the waters. Through the lane down which the Dweller had passed we went as quickly as we could, coming at last to the space where the coria waited. And not long after we swung past where the shadow had hung and hovered68 over the shining depths of the Midnight Pool.
Upon Lakla’s insistence69 we passed on to the palace of Lugur, not to Yolara’s — I do not know why, but go there then she would not. And within one of its columned rooms, maidens70 of the black-haired folks, the wistfulness, the fear, all gone from their sparkling eyes, served us.
There came to me a huge desire to see the destruction they had told us of the Dweller’s lair; to observe for myself whether it was not possible to make a way of entrance and to study its mysteries.
I spoke71 of this, and to my surprise both the handmaiden and the O’Keefe showed an almost embarrassed haste to acquiesce72 in my hesitant suggestion.
“Sure,” cried Larry, “there’s lots of time before night!”
He caught himself sheepishly; cast a glance at Lakla.
“I keep forgettin’ there’s no night here,” he mumbled73.
“What did you say, Larry?” asked she.
“I said I wish we were sitting in our home in Ireland, watching the sun go down,” he whispered to her. Vaguely74 I wondered why she blushed.
But now I must hasten. We went to the temple, and here at least the ghastly litter of the dead had been cleaned away. We passed through the blue-caverned space, crossed the narrow arch that spanned the rushing sea stream, and, ascending75, stood again upon the ivoried pave at the foot of the frowning, towering amphitheatre of jet.
Across the Silver Waters there was sign of neither Web of Rainbows nor colossal pillars nor the templed lips that I had seen curving out beneath the Veil when the Shining One had swirled76 out to greet its priestess and its voice and to dance with the sacrifices. There was but a broken and rent mass of the radiant cliffs against whose base the lake lapped.
Long I looked — and turned away saddened. Knowing even as I did what the irised curtain had hidden, still it was as though some thing of supernal77 beauty and wonder had been swept away, never to be replaced; a glamour78 gone for ever; a work of the high gods destroyed.
“Let’s go back,” said Larry abruptly79.
I dropped a little behind them to examine a bit of carving80 — and, after all, they did not want me. I watched them pacing slowly ahead, his arm around her, black hair close to bronze-gold ringlets. Then I followed. Half were they over the bridge when through the roar of the imprisoned81 stream I heard my name called softly.
“Goodwin! Dr. Goodwin!”
Amazed, I turned. From behind the pedestal of a carved group slunk — Marakinoff! My premonition had been right. Some way he had escaped, slipped through to here. He held his hands high, came forward cautiously.
“I am finished,” he whispered —“Done! I don’t care what THEY’LL do to me.” He nodded toward the handmaiden and Larry, now at the end of the bridge and passing on, oblivious82 of all save each other. He drew closer. His eyes were sunken, burning, mad; his face etched with deep lines, as though a graver’s tool had cut down through it. I took a step backward.
A grin, like the grimace83 of a fiend, blasted the Russian’s visage. He threw himself upon me, his hands clenching84 at my throat!
“Larry!” I yelled — and as I spun85 around under the shock of his onslaught, saw the two turn, stand paralyzed, then race toward me.
“But YOU’LL carry nothing out of here!” shrieked86 Marakinoff. “No!”
My foot, darting87 out behind me, touched vacancy88. The roaring of the racing89 stream deafened90 me. I felt its mists about me; threw myself forward.
I was falling — falling — with the Russian’s hand strangling me. I struck water, sank; the hands that gripped my throat relaxed for a moment their clutch. I strove to writhe91 loose; felt that I was being hurled92 with dreadful speed on — full realization93 came — on the breast of that racing torrent55 dropping from some far ocean cleft94 and rushing — where? A little time, a few breathless instants, I struggled with the devil who clutched me — inflexibly95, indomitably.
Then a shrieking96 as of all the pent winds of the universe in my ears — blackness!
Consciousness returned slowly, agonizedly.
“Larry!” I groaned97. “Lakla!”
A brilliant light was glowing through my closed lids. It hurt. I opened my eyes, closed them with swords and needles of dazzling pain shooting through them. Again I opened them cautiously. It was the sun!
I staggered to my feet. Behind me was a shattered wall of basalt monoliths, hewn and squared. Before me was the Pacific, smooth and blue and smiling.
And not far away, cast up on the strand98 even as I had been, was — Marakinoff!
He lay there, broken and dead indeed. Yet all the waters through which we had passed — not even the waters of death themselves — could wash from his face the grin of triumph. With the last of my strength I dragged the body from the strand and pushed it out into the waves. A little billow ran up, coiled about it, and carried it away, ducking and bending. Another seized it, and another, playing with it. It floated from my sight — that which had been Marakinoff, with all his schemes to turn our fair world into an undreamed-of-hell.
My strength began to come back to me. I found a thicket99 and slept; slept it must have been for many hours, for when I again awakened100 the dawn was rosing the east. I will not tell my sufferings. Suffice it to say that I found a spring and some fruit, and just before dusk had recovered enough to writhe up to the top of the wall and discover where I was.
The place was one of the farther islets of the Nan–Matal. To the north I caught the shadows of the ruins of Nan–Tauach, where was the moon door, black against the sky. Where was the moon door — which, someway, somehow, I must reach, and quickly.
At dawn of the next day I got together driftwood and bound it together in shape of a rough raft with fallen creepers. Then, with a makeshift paddle, I set forth for Nan–Tauach. Slowly, painfully, I crept up to it. It was late afternoon before I grounded my shaky craft on the little beach between the ruined sea-gates and, creeping up the giant steps, made my way to the inner enclosure.
And at its opening I stopped, and the tears ran streaming down my cheeks while I wept aloud with sorrow and with disappointment and with weariness.
For the great wall in which had been set the pale slab whose threshold we had crossed to the land of the Shining One lay shattered and broken. The monoliths were heaped about; the wall had fallen, and about them shone a film of water, half covering them.
There was no moon door!
Dazed and weeping, I drew closer, climbed upon their outlying fragments. I looked out only upon the sea. There had been a great subsidence, an earth shock, perhaps, tilting101 downward all that side — the echo, little doubt, of that cataclysm102 which had blasted the Dweller’s lair!
The little squared islet called Tau, in which were hidden the seven globes, had entirely103 disappeared. Upon the waters there was no trace of it.
The moon door was gone; the passage to the Moon Pool was closed to me — its chamber covered by the sea!
There was no road to Larry — nor to Lakla!
And there, for me, the world ended.
The End
点击收听单词发音
1 murmur | |
n.低语,低声的怨言;v.低语,低声而言 | |
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2 cavern | |
n.洞穴,大山洞 | |
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3 ledge | |
n.壁架,架状突出物;岩架,岩礁 | |
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4 helping | |
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的 | |
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5 pallid | |
adj.苍白的,呆板的 | |
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6 dweller | |
n.居住者,住客 | |
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7 fleeting | |
adj.短暂的,飞逝的 | |
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8 kindly | |
adj.和蔼的,温和的,爽快的;adv.温和地,亲切地 | |
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9 cove | |
n.小海湾,小峡谷 | |
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10 bower | |
n.凉亭,树荫下凉快之处;闺房;v.荫蔽 | |
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11 touching | |
adj.动人的,使人感伤的 | |
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12 tingling | |
v.有刺痛感( tingle的现在分词 ) | |
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13 veins | |
n.纹理;矿脉( vein的名词复数 );静脉;叶脉;纹理 | |
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14 arteries | |
n.动脉( artery的名词复数 );干线,要道 | |
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15 indented | |
adj.锯齿状的,高低不平的;缩进排版 | |
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16 furrows | |
n.犁沟( furrow的名词复数 );(脸上的)皱纹v.犁田,开沟( furrow的第三人称单数 ) | |
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17 collapse | |
vi.累倒;昏倒;倒塌;塌陷 | |
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18 collapsed | |
adj.倒塌的 | |
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19 lair | |
n.野兽的巢穴;躲藏处 | |
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20 energized | |
v.给予…精力,能量( energize的过去式和过去分词 );使通电 | |
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21 hordes | |
n.移动着的一大群( horde的名词复数 );部落 | |
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22 crimson | |
n./adj.深(绯)红色(的);vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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23 levies | |
(部队)征兵( levy的名词复数 ); 募捐; 被征募的军队 | |
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24 garrison | |
n.卫戍部队;驻地,卫戍区;vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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25 slaughter | |
n.屠杀,屠宰;vt.屠杀,宰杀 | |
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26 hatred | |
n.憎恶,憎恨,仇恨 | |
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27 pang | |
n.剧痛,悲痛,苦闷 | |
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28 gaily | |
adv.欢乐地,高兴地 | |
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29 malicious | |
adj.有恶意的,心怀恶意的 | |
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30 peril | |
n.(严重的)危险;危险的事物 | |
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31 sanctuary | |
n.圣所,圣堂,寺庙;禁猎区,保护区 | |
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32 motes | |
n.尘埃( mote的名词复数 );斑点 | |
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33 massacre | |
n.残杀,大屠杀;v.残杀,集体屠杀 | |
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34 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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35 colossal | |
adj.异常的,庞大的 | |
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36 debris | |
n.瓦砾堆,废墟,碎片 | |
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37 seething | |
沸腾的,火热的 | |
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38 slain | |
杀死,宰杀,杀戮( slay的过去分词 ); (slay的过去分词) | |
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39 slaughtered | |
v.屠杀,杀戮,屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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40 rites | |
仪式,典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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41 astonishment | |
n.惊奇,惊异 | |
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42 jaw | |
n.颚,颌,说教,流言蜚语;v.喋喋不休,教训 | |
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43 imminent | |
adj.即将发生的,临近的,逼近的 | |
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44 gasped | |
v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 );喘息;倒抽气;很想要 | |
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45 stammered | |
v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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46 fatuously | |
adv.愚昧地,昏庸地,蠢地 | |
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47 humbly | |
adv. 恭顺地,谦卑地 | |
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48 vitality | |
n.活力,生命力,效力 | |
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49 scarlet | |
n.深红色,绯红色,红衣;adj.绯红色的 | |
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50 doorway | |
n.门口,(喻)入门;门路,途径 | |
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51 chamber | |
n.房间,寝室;会议厅;议院;会所 | |
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52 curdled | |
v.(使)凝结( curdle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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53 slab | |
n.平板,厚的切片;v.切成厚板,以平板盖上 | |
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54 torrents | |
n.倾注;奔流( torrent的名词复数 );急流;爆发;连续不断 | |
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55 torrent | |
n.激流,洪流;爆发,(话语等的)连发 | |
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56 opalescence | |
n.乳白光,蛋白色光;乳光 | |
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57 dome | |
n.圆屋顶,拱顶 | |
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58 tenantless | |
adj.无人租赁的,无人居住的 | |
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59 cascaded | |
级联的 | |
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60 bent | |
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
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61 reverent | |
adj.恭敬的,虔诚的 | |
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62 gratitude | |
adj.感激,感谢 | |
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63 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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64 avert | |
v.防止,避免;转移(目光、注意力等) | |
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65 verge | |
n.边,边缘;v.接近,濒临 | |
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66 moored | |
adj. 系泊的 动词moor的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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67 dwarfs | |
n.侏儒,矮子(dwarf的复数形式)vt.(使)显得矮小(dwarf的第三人称单数形式) | |
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68 hovered | |
鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 ); 靠近(某事物); (人)徘徊; 犹豫 | |
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69 insistence | |
n.坚持;强调;坚决主张 | |
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70 maidens | |
处女( maiden的名词复数 ); 少女; 未婚女子; (板球运动)未得分的一轮投球 | |
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71 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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72 acquiesce | |
vi.默许,顺从,同意 | |
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73 mumbled | |
含糊地说某事,叽咕,咕哝( mumble的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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74 vaguely | |
adv.含糊地,暖昧地 | |
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75 ascending | |
adj.上升的,向上的 | |
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76 swirled | |
v.旋转,打旋( swirl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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77 supernal | |
adj.天堂的,天上的;崇高的 | |
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78 glamour | |
n.魔力,魅力;vt.迷住 | |
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79 abruptly | |
adv.突然地,出其不意地 | |
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80 carving | |
n.雕刻品,雕花 | |
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81 imprisoned | |
下狱,监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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82 oblivious | |
adj.易忘的,遗忘的,忘却的,健忘的 | |
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83 grimace | |
v.做鬼脸,面部歪扭 | |
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84 clenching | |
v.紧握,抓紧,咬紧( clench的现在分词 ) | |
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85 spun | |
v.纺,杜撰,急转身 | |
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86 shrieked | |
v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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87 darting | |
v.投掷,投射( dart的现在分词 );向前冲,飞奔 | |
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88 vacancy | |
n.(旅馆的)空位,空房,(职务的)空缺 | |
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89 racing | |
n.竞赛,赛马;adj.竞赛用的,赛马用的 | |
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90 deafened | |
使聋( deafen的过去式和过去分词 ); 使隔音 | |
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91 writhe | |
vt.挣扎,痛苦地扭曲;vi.扭曲,翻腾,受苦;n.翻腾,苦恼 | |
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92 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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93 realization | |
n.实现;认识到,深刻了解 | |
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94 cleft | |
n.裂缝;adj.裂开的 | |
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95 inflexibly | |
adv.不屈曲地,不屈地 | |
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96 shrieking | |
v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
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97 groaned | |
v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 );发牢骚;抱怨;受苦 | |
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98 strand | |
vt.使(船)搁浅,使(某人)困于(某地) | |
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99 thicket | |
n.灌木丛,树林 | |
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100 awakened | |
v.(使)醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 );(使)觉醒;弄醒;(使)意识到 | |
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101 tilting | |
倾斜,倾卸 | |
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102 cataclysm | |
n.洪水,剧变,大灾难 | |
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103 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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