The spot where the projectile1 sank under the waves was exactly known; but the machinery2 to grasp it and bring it to the surface of the ocean was still wanting. It must first be invented, then made. American engineers could not be troubled with such trifles. The grappling-irons once fixed3, by their help they were sure to raise it in spite of its weight, which was lessened4 by the density5 of the liquid in which it was plunged6.
But fishing-up the projectile was not the only thing to be thought of. They must act promptly7 in the interest of the travelers. No one doubted that they were still living.
“Yes,” repeated J. T. Maston incessantly8, whose confidence gained over everybody, “our friends are clever people, and they cannot have fallen like simpletons. They are alive, quite alive; but we must make haste if we wish to find them so. Food and water do not trouble me; they have enough for a long while. But air, air, that is what they will soon want; so quick, quick!”
And they did go quick. They fitted up the Susquehanna for her new destination. Her powerful machinery was brought to bear upon the hauling-chains. The aluminum9 projectile only weighed 19,250 pounds, a weight very inferior to that of the transatlantic cable which had been drawn10 up under similar conditions. The only difficulty was in fishing up a cylindro-conical projectile, the walls of which were so smooth as to offer no hold for the hooks. On that account Engineer Murchison hastened to San Francisco, and had some enormous grappling-irons fixed on an automatic system, which would never let the projectile go if it once succeeded in seizing it in its powerful claws. Diving-dresses were also prepared, which through this impervious11 covering allowed the divers12 to observe the bottom of the sea. He also had put on board an apparatus13 of compressed air very cleverly designed. There were perfect chambers14 pierced with scuttles16, which, with water let into certain compartments18, could draw it down into great depths. These apparatuses19 were at San Francisco, where they had been used in the construction of a submarine breakwater; and very fortunately it was so, for there was no time to construct any. But in spite of the perfection of the machinery, in spite of the ingenuity20 of the savants entrusted21 with the use of them, the success of the operation was far from being certain. How great were the chances against them, the projectile being 20,000 feet under the water! And if even it was brought to the surface, how would the travelers have borne the terrible shock which 20,000 feet of water had perhaps not sufficiently22 broken? At any rate they must act quickly. J. T. Maston hurried the workmen day and night. He was ready to don the diving-dress himself, or try the air apparatus, in order to reconnoiter the situation of his courageous23 friends.
But in spite of all the diligence displayed in preparing the different engines, in spite of the considerable sum placed at the disposal of the Gun Club by the Government of the union, five long days (five centuries!) elapsed before the preparations were complete. During this time public opinion was excited to the highest pitch. Telegrams were exchanged incessantly throughout the entire world by means of wires and electric cables. The saving of Barbicane, Nicholl, and Michel Ardan was an international affair. Every one who had subscribed24 to the Gun Club was directly interested in the welfare of the travelers.
At length the hauling-chains, the air-chambers, and the automatic grappling-irons were put on board. J. T. Maston, Engineer Murchison, and the delegates of the Gun Club, were already in their cabins. They had but to start, which they did on the 21st of December, at eight o’clock at night, the corvette meeting with a beautiful sea, a northeasterly wind, and rather sharp cold. The whole population of San Francisco was gathered on the quay25, greatly excited but silent, reserving their hurrahs for the return. Steam was fully26 up, and the screw of the Susquehanna carried them briskly out of the bay.
It is needless to relate the conversations on board between the officers, sailors, and passengers. All these men had but one thought. All these hearts beat under the same emotion. While they were hastening to help them, what were Barbicane and his companions doing? What had become of them? Were they able to attempt any bold maneuver27 to regain28 their liberty? None could say. The truth is that every attempt must have failed! Immersed nearly four miles under the ocean, this metal prison defied every effort of its prisoners.
On the 23rd inst., at eight in the morning, after a rapid passage, the Susquehanna was due at the fatal spot. They must wait till twelve to take the reckoning exactly. The buoy29 to which the sounding line had been lashed30 had not yet been recognized.
At twelve, Captain Blomsberry, assisted by his officers who superintended the observations, took the reckoning in the presence of the delegates of the Gun Club. Then there was a moment of anxiety. Her position decided31, the Susquehanna was found to be some minutes westward32 of the spot where the projectile had disappeared beneath the waves.
The ship’s course was then changed so as to reach this exact point.
At forty-seven minutes past twelve they reached the buoy; it was in perfect condition, and must have shifted but little.
“At last!” exclaimed J. T. Maston.
“Shall we begin?” asked Captain Blomsberry.
“Without losing a second.”
Every precaution was taken to keep the corvette almost completely motionless. Before trying to seize the projectile, Engineer Murchison wanted to find its exact position at the bottom of the ocean. The submarine apparatus destined33 for this expedition was supplied with air. The working of these engines was not without danger, for at 20,000 feet below the surface of the water, and under such great pressure, they were exposed to fracture, the consequences of which would be dreadful.
J. T. Maston, the brothers Blomsberry, and Engineer Murchison, without heeding34 these dangers, took their places in the air-chamber15. The commander, posted on his bridge, superintended the operation, ready to stop or haul in the chains on the slightest signal. The screw had been shipped, and the whole power of the machinery collected on the capstan would have quickly drawn the apparatus on board. The descent began at twenty-five minutes past one at night, and the chamber, drawn under by the reservoirs full of water, disappeared from the surface of the ocean.
The emotion of the officers and sailors on board was now divided between the prisoners in the projectile and the prisoners in the submarine apparatus. As to the latter, they forgot themselves, and, glued to the windows of the scuttles, attentively35 watched the liquid mass through which they were passing.
The descent was rapid. At seventeen minutes past two, J. T. Maston and his companions had reached the bottom of the Pacific; but they saw nothing but an arid36 desert, no longer animated37 by either fauna38 or flora39. By the light of their lamps, furnished with powerful reflectors, they could see the dark beds of the ocean for a considerable extent of view, but the projectile was nowhere to be seen.
The impatience40 of these bold divers cannot be described, and having an electrical communication with the corvette, they made a signal already agreed upon, and for the space of a mile the Susquehanna moved their chamber along some yards above the bottom.
Thus they explored the whole submarine plain, deceived at every turn by optical illusions which almost broke their hearts. Here a rock, there a projection41 from the ground, seemed to be the much-sought-for projectile; but their mistake was soon discovered, and then they were in despair.
“But where are they? where are they?” cried J. T. Maston. And the poor man called loudly upon Nicholl, Barbicane, and Michel Ardan, as if his unfortunate friends could either hear or answer him through such an impenetrable medium! The search continued under these conditions until the vitiated air compelled the divers to ascend42.
The hauling in began about six in the evening, and was not ended before midnight.
“To-morrow,” said J. T. Maston, as he set foot on the bridge of the corvette.
“Yes,” answered Captain Blomsberry.
“And on another spot?”
“Yes.”
J. T. Maston did not doubt of their final success, but his companions, no longer upheld by the excitement of the first hours, understood all the difficulty of the enterprise. What seemed easy at San Francisco, seemed here in the wide ocean almost impossible. The chances of success diminished in rapid proportion; and it was from chance alone that the meeting with the projectile might be expected.
The next day, the 24th, in spite of the fatigue43 of the previous day, the operation was renewed. The corvette advanced some minutes to westward, and the apparatus, provided with air, bore the same explorers to the depths of the ocean.
The whole day passed in fruitless research; the bed of the sea was a desert. The 25th brought no other result, nor the 26th.
It was disheartening. They thought of those unfortunates shut up in the projectile for twenty-six days. Perhaps at that moment they were experiencing the first approach of suffocation44; that is, if they had escaped the dangers of their fall. The air was spent, and doubtless with the air all their morale45.
“The air, possibly,” answered J. T. Maston resolutely46, “but their morale never!”
On the 28th, after two more days of search, all hope was gone. This projectile was but an atom in the immensity of the ocean. They must give up all idea of finding it.
But J. T. Maston would not hear of going away. He would not abandon the place without at least discovering the tomb of his friends. But Commander Blomsberry could no longer persist, and in spite of the exclamations47 of the worthy48 secretary, was obliged to give the order to sail.
On the 29th of December, at nine A.M., the Susquehanna, heading northeast, resumed her course to the bay of San Francisco.
It was ten in the morning; the corvette was under half-steam, as it was regretting to leave the spot where the catastrophe49 had taken place, when a sailor, perched on the main-top-gallant crosstrees, watching the sea, cried suddenly:
“A buoy on the lee bow!”
The officers looked in the direction indicated, and by the help of their glasses saw that the object signalled had the appearance of one of those buoys50 which are used to mark the passages of bays or rivers. But, singularly to say, a flag floating on the wind surmounted51 its cone52, which emerged five or six feet out of water. This buoy shone under the rays of the sun as if it had been made of plates of silver. Commander Blomsberry, J. T. Maston, and the delegates of the Gun Club were mounted on the bridge, examining this object straying at random53 on the waves.
All looked with feverish54 anxiety, but in silence. None dared give expression to the thoughts which came to the minds of all.
The corvette approached to within two cables’ lengths of the object.
A shudder55 ran through the whole crew. That flag was the American flag!
At this moment a perfect howling was heard; it was the brave J. T. Maston who had just fallen all in a heap. Forgetting on the one hand that his right arm had been replaced by an iron hook, and on the other that a simple gutta-percha cap covered his brain-box, he had given himself a formidable blow.
They hurried toward him, picked him up, restored him to life. And what were his first words?
“Ah! trebly brutes56! quadruply idiots! quintuply boobies that we are!”
“What is it?” exclaimed everyone around him.
“What is it?”
“Come, speak!”
“It is, simpletons,” howled the terrible secretary, “it is that the projectile only weighs 19,250 pounds!”
“Well?”
“And that it displaces twenty-eight tons, or in other words 56,000 pounds, and that consequently it floats!”
Ah! what stress the worthy man had laid on the verb “float!” And it was true! All, yes! all these savants had forgotten this fundamental law, namely, that on account of its specific lightness, the projectile, after having been drawn by its fall to the greatest depths of the ocean, must naturally return to the surface. And now it was floating quietly at the mercy of the waves.
The boats were put to sea. J. T. Maston and his friends had rushed into them! Excitement was at its height! Every heart beat loudly while they advanced to the projectile. What did it contain? Living or dead?
Living, yes! living, at least unless death had struck Barbicane and his two friends since they had hoisted57 the flag. Profound silence reigned58 on the boats. All were breathless. Eyes no longer saw. One of the scuttles of the projectile was open. Some pieces of glass remained in the frame, showing that it had been broken. This scuttle17 was actually five feet above the water.
A boat came alongside, that of J. T. Maston, and J. T. Maston rushed to the broken window.
At that moment they heard a clear and merry voice, the voice of Michel Ardan, exclaiming in an accent of triumph:
“White all, Barbicane, white all!”
Barbicane, Michel Ardan, and Nicholl were playing at dominoes!
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收听单词发音
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1
projectile
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| n.投射物，发射体；adj.向前开进的；推进的；抛掷的 | |
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machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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lessened
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| 减少的，减弱的 | |
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density
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| n.密集，密度，浓度 | |
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plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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8
incessantly
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| ad.不停地 | |
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aluminum
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| n.(aluminium)铝 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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impervious
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| adj.不能渗透的，不能穿过的，不易伤害的 | |
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divers
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| adj.不同的；种种的 | |
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apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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16
scuttles
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| n.天窗( scuttle的名词复数 )v.使船沉没( scuttle的第三人称单数 )；快跑，急走 | |
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scuttle
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| v.急赶，疾走，逃避；n.天窗；舷窗 | |
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18
compartments
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| n.间隔( compartment的名词复数 )；（列车车厢的）隔间；（家具或设备等的）分隔间；隔层 | |
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19
apparatuses
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| n.器械； 装置； 设备； 仪器 | |
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ingenuity
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| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
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21
entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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courageous
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| adj.勇敢的，有胆量的 | |
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24
subscribed
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| v.捐助( subscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；签署，题词；订阅；同意 | |
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quay
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| n.码头，靠岸处 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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maneuver
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| n.策略[pl.]演习；v.(巧妙)控制；用策略 | |
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regain
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| vt.重新获得，收复，恢复 | |
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29
buoy
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| n.浮标；救生圈；v.支持，鼓励 | |
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30
lashed
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| adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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westward
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| n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西 | |
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33
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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heeding
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| v.听某人的劝告，听从( heed的现在分词 ) | |
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attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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arid
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| adj.干旱的；(土地)贫瘠的 | |
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animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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fauna
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| n.(一个地区或时代的)所有动物，动物区系 | |
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39
flora
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| n.(某一地区的)植物群 | |
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40
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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41
projection
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| n.发射，计划，突出部分 | |
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42
ascend
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| vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上 | |
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43
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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44
suffocation
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| n.窒息 | |
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45
morale
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| n.道德准则，士气，斗志 | |
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46
resolutely
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| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
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47
exclamations
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| n.呼喊( exclamation的名词复数 )；感叹；感叹语；感叹词 | |
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48
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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49
catastrophe
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| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
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50
buoys
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| n.浮标( buoy的名词复数 )；航标；救生圈；救生衣v.使浮起( buoy的第三人称单数 )；支持；为…设浮标；振奋…的精神 | |
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51
surmounted
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| 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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52
cone
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| n.圆锥体，圆锥形东西，球果 | |
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53
random
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| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
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54
feverish
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| adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的 | |
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55
shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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56
brutes
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| 兽( brute的名词复数 )； 畜生； 残酷无情的人； 兽性 | |
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57
hoisted
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| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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58
reigned
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| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
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