IN THE VOLANT LAND OF LAPUTA, according to the journal of LemuelGulliver recounting his Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, noperson of importance ever listened or spoke1 without the help of a servant,known as a .climenole“ in Laputian-or .flapper“ in rough English translation,as such a Servant’s only duty was to flap the mouth and ears of his masterwith a dried bladder whenever, in the opinion of the servant, it was desirablefor his master to speak or listen.
Without the consent of his flapper it was impossible to gain the attention ofany Laputian of the master class.
Gulliver’s journal is usually regarded by Terrans as a pack of lies composedby a sour churchman. As may be, there can be no doubt that, at this time, the.flapper“ system was widely used on the planet Earth and had beenextended, refined, and multiplied until a Laputian would not have recognizedit other than in spirit.
In an earlier, simpler day one prime duty of any Ten~an sovereign was tomake himself publicly available on frequent occasions so that even thelowliest might come before him without any intermediary of any sort anddemand judgment2. Traces of this aspect of primitive3 sovereignty persisted onEarth long after kings became scarce and impotent. It continued to be theright of an Englishman to .Cry Harold!“ although few knew it and none did it.
Successful city political bosses held open court all through the twentiethcentury, leaving wide their office doors and listening to any gandy dancer orbindlestiff who came in.
The principle itself was never abolished, being embalmed5 in Articles I & IX ofthe Amendments6 to the Constitution of the United States of America-andtherefore nominal7 law for many humans-even though the basic documenthad been almost superseded8 in actual practice by the Articles of WorldFederation.
But at the time the Federation9 Ship Champion returned to Terra from Mars,the .flapper system“ had been expanding for more than a century and hadreached a stage of great intricacy, with many persons employed solely10 incarrying out its rituals. The importance of a public personage could beestimated by the number of layers of flappers cutting him off from readycongress with the plebian mob. They were not called .flappers,“ but wereknown as executive assistants, private secretaries, secretaries to privatesecretaries, press secretaries, receptionists, appointment clerks, et cetera. Infact the titles could be anything-or (with some of the most puissant) no title atall, but they could all be identified as .flappers“ by function: each one heldarbitrary and concatenative veto over any attempted communication from theoutside world to the Great Man who was the nominal superior of the flapper.
This web of intermediary officials surrounding every V.I.P. naturally caused togrow up a class of unofficials whose function it was to flap the ear of theGreat Man without permission from the official flappers, doing so (usually) onsocial or pseudo-social occasions or (with the most successful) via back-doorprivileged access or unlisted telephone number. These unofficials usuallyhad no formal titles but were called a variety of names: .golfing companion,“.kitchen cabinet,“ .lobbyist,“ .elder statesman,“ .five-percenter,“ and so forth12.
They existed in benign13 Symbiosis14 with the official barricade15 of flappers, sinceit was recognized almost universally that the tighter the system the moreneed for a safety valve.
The most successful of the unofficials often grew webs of flappers of theirown, until they were almost as hard to reach as the Great Man whoseunofficial contacts they were . . . in which case secondary unofficials sprangup to circumvent16 the flappers of the primary unofficial. With a personage offoremost importance, such as the Secretary General of the World Federationof Free States, the maze17 of by-passes through unofficials would be asformidable as were the official phalanges of flappers surrounding a personmerely very important.
Some Terran students have suggested that the Laputians must have been, infact, visiting Martians, citing not only their very unworldly obsession18 with thecontemplative life but also two concrete matters: the Laputians were allegedto have known about Mars’ two moons at least a century and half before theywere observed by Terran astronomers20, and, secondly21, Laputa itself wasdescribed in size and shape and propulsion such that the only English termthat fits is .flying saucer.“ But that theory will not wash, as the flapper system,basic to Laputian society, was unknown on Mars. The Martian Old Ones, nothampered by bodies subject to space-time, would have had as little use forflappers as a snake has for shoes. Martians still corporate22 conceivably coulduse flappers but did not; the very concept ran contrary to their way of living.
A Martian having need of a few minutes or years of contemplation simplytook it. If another Martian wished to speak with him, this friend would simplywait, as long as necessary. With all eternity23 to draw on there could be noreason for hurrying-in fact .hurry“ was not a concept that could be symbolizedin the Martian language and therefore must be presumed to be unthinkable.
Speed, velocity24, simultaneity, acceleration25, and other mathematicalabstractions having to do with the pattern of eternity were part of Martianmathematics, but not of Martian emotion, Contrariwise, the unceasing rushand turmoil26 of human existence came not from mathematical necessities oftime but from the frantic27 urgency implicit28 in human sexual bipolarity.
Dr. Jubal Harshaw, professional clown, amateur subversive29, and parasite30 bychoice, had long attempted to eliminate .hurry“ and all related emotions fromhis pattern. Being aware that he had but a short time left to live and havingneither Martian nor Kansan faith in his own immortality31, it was his purpose tolive each golden moment as if it were eternity- without fear, without hope, butwith sybaritic gusto. To this end he found that he required something largerthan Diogenes’ tub but smaller than Kubla’s pleasure dome32 and its twice fivemiles of fertile ground with walls and towers girdled round; his was a simplelittle place, a few acres kept private with an electrified33 fence, a house offourteen rooms or so, with running secretaries laid on and all other modernconveniences. To support his austerely34 upholstered nest and its rabble35 staffhe put forth minimum effort for maximum return simply because it was easierto be rich than to be poor-Harshaw merely wished to live exactly as he liked,doing whatever he thought was best for him.
In consequence he felt honestly aggrieved36 that circumstances had forced onhim a necessity for hurry and would not admit that he was enjoying himselfmore than he had in years.
This morning he found it needful to speak to the third planet’s chief executive.
He was fully37 aware of the flapper system that made such contact with thehead of government all but impossible for the ordinary citizen, even thoughHarshaw himself disdained38 to surround himself with buffers39 suitable to hisown rank-Harshaw answered his telephone himself if he happened to be athand when it signalled because each call offered good odds40 that he would bejustified in being gratifyingly rude to some stranger for daring to invade hisprivacy without cause-.cause“ by Harshaw’s definition, not by the stranger’s.
Jubal knew that he could not hope to find the same conditions obtaining atthe Executive Palace; Mr. Secretary General would not answer his ownphone. But Harshaw had many years of practice in the art of outwittinghuman customs; he tackled the matter cheerfully, right after breakfast.
Much later he was tired and very frustrated42. His name alone had carried himpast three layers of the official flapper defense43, and he was sufficiently44 anarrow-gauge V.I.P. that he was never quite switched off. Instead he wasreferred from secretary to secretary and wound up speaking voice-&-vision toa personable, urbane45 young man who seemed willing to discuss the matterendlessly and without visible irritation46 no matter what Harshaw said-butwould not agree to connect him with the Honorable Mr. Douglas.
Harshaw knew that he would get action if he mentioned the Man from Marsand that he certainly would get very quick action if he claimed to have theMan from Mars with him, but he was far from certain that the resultant actionwould be a face-to-face hookup with Douglas. On the Contrary, he calculatedthat any mention of Smith would kill any chance of reaching Douglas butwould at once produce violent reaction from subordinates-which was notwhat he wanted. He knew from a lifetime of experience that it was alwayseasier to dicker with the top man. With Ben Caxton’s life very possibly atstake Harshaw could not risk failure through a subordinate’s lack of authorityor excess of ambition.
But this soft brush-off was trying his patience. Finally he snarled47, .Youngman, if you have no authority yourself, let me speak to someone who has!
Put me through to Mr. Berquist.“The face of the staff stooge suddenly lost its smile and Jubal thoughtgleefully that he had at last pinked him in the quick. So he pushed hisadvantage. .Well? Don’t just sit there! Get Gil on your inside line and tell himyou’ve been keeping Jubal Harshaw waiting. Tell him how long you’ve keptme waiting.“ Jubal reviewed in his own excellent memory all that WitnessCavendish had reported concerning the missing Berquist, plus the report onhim from the detective service. Yup, he thought happily, this lad is at leastthree rungs down the ladder from where Berquist was-so let’s shake him up alittle . . . and climb a couple of rungs in the process.
The face said woodenly, .We have no Mr. Berquist here.“.I don’t care where he is. Get him! If you don’t know Gil Berquist personally,ask your boss. Mr. Gilbert Berquist, personal assistant to Mr. Douglas. Ifyou’ve been around the Palace more than two weeks you’ve at least seenMr. Berquist at a distance-thirty-five years old, about six feet and a hundredand eighty pounds, sandy hair a little thin on top, smiles a lot and has perfectteeth. You’ve seen him. If you don’t dare disturb him yourself, dump it in yourboss’s lap. But quit biting your nails and do something. I’m getting annoyed.“Without expression the young man said, .Please hold on. I will enquire48.“.I certainly will hold on. Get me Gil.“ The image in the phone was replaced bya moving abstract pattern; a pleasant female voice recorded, said, .Pleasewait while your call is completed. This delay is not being charged to youraccount. Please relax while-. Soothing49 music came up and covered thevoice; Jubal sat back and looked around. Anne was waiting, reading, andsafely out of the telephone’s vision angle. On his other side the Man fromMars was also out of the telephone’s sight pickup50 and was watching imagesin stereovision and listening via ear plugs.
Jubal reflected that he must remember to have that obscene babble51 boxplaced in the basement where it belonged, once this emergency was over.
.What you got, son?“ he asked, leaned over and turned on the speaker to lowgain.
Mike answered, .I don’t know, Jubal.“The sound confirmed what Jubal had suspected from his glance at theimage: Smith was listening to a broadcast of a Fosterite service. The imagedShepherd was not preaching but seemed to be reading church notices:“-junior Spirit-in-Action team will give a practice demonstration52 before thesupper, so come early and see the fur fly! Our team coach, Brother Hornsby,has asked me to tell you boys on the team to fetch only your helmets, gloves,and sticks-we aren’t going after sinners this time. However, the LittleCherubim will be on hand with their first-aid kits53 in case of excessive zeal54.“The Shepherd paused and smiled broadly, .And now wonderful news, MyChildren! A message from the Angel Ramzai for Brother Arthur Renwick andhis good wife Dorothy. Your prayer has been approved and you will go toheaven at dawn Thursday morning! Stand up, Art! Stand up, Dottie! Take abow!“The camera angle made a reverse cut, showing the congregation andcentering on Brother and Sister Renwick. To wild applause and shouts of.Hallelujah!“ Brother Renwick was responding with a boxer’s handshake overhis head, while his wife blushed and smiled and dabbed55 at her eyes besidehim.
The camera cut back as the Shepherd held up his hand for silence. He wenton briskly, .The Bon Voyage party for the Renwicks will start promptly56 atmidnight and the doors will be locked at that time-so get here early and let’smake this the happiest revelry our flock has ever seen, for we’re all proud ofArt and Dottie. Funeral services will be held thirty minutes after dawn, withbreakfast immediately following for the benefit of those who have to get towork early.“ The Shepherd suddenly looked very stern and the camerapanned in until his head filled the tank. .After our last Ban Voyage, theSexton found an empty pint58 bottle in one of the Happiness rooms . . . of abrand distilled59 by sinners. That’s past and done, as the brother who slippedhas confessed and paid penance60 sevenfold, even refusing the usual cashdiscount-I’m sure he won’t backslide. But stop and think, My Children- Is itworth risking eternal happiness to save a few pennies on an article of worldlymerchandise? Always look for that happy, holy seal-of-approval with BishopDigby’s smiling face on it. Don’t let a sinner palm off on you something .justas good.’ Our sponsors support us; they deserve your support. Brother Art,I’m sorry to have to bring up such a subject-.
.That’s okay, Shepherd! Pour it on!“.-at a time of such great happiness. But we must never forget that-. Jubalreached over and switched off the speaker circuit.
.Mike, that’s not anything you need to see.“.Not?“.Uh-. Jubal thought about it. Shucks, the boy was going to have to learnabout such things sooner or later. .All right, go ahead. But come talk to meabout it later.“.Yes, Jubal.“Harshaw was about to add some advice intended to offset61 Mike’s tendency totake literally62 anything he saw or heard. But the telephone’s soothing .hold“music suddenly went down and out, and the screen filled with an image-aman in his forties whom Jubal at once labeled in his mind as .cop.“Jubal said aggressively, .You aren’t Gil Berquist.“The man said, .What is your interest in Gilbert Berquist?“Jubal answered with pained patience, .I wish to speak to him. See here, mygood man, are you a public employee?“The man barely hesitated. .Yes. You must-.
.I .must’ nothing! I am a citizen in good standing63 and my taxes go to pay yourwages. All morning I have been trying to make a simple phone call-and Ihave been passed from one butterfly-brained bovine64 to another, and everyone of them feeding out of the public trough. I am sick of it and I do not intendto put up with it any longer. And now you. Give me your name, your job title,and your pay number. Then I’ll speak to Mr. Berquist.“.You didn’t answer my question.“.Come, come! I don’t have to answer your questions; I am a private citizen.
But you are not . . . and the question I asked you any citizen may demand ofany public servant. O’Kelly versus65 State of California 1972. I demand thatyou identify yourself-name, job, number.“The man answered tonelessly, .You are Doctor Jubal Harshaw. You arecalling from-.
.So that’s what took so long? Stopping to have this call traced. That wasstupid. I am at home and my address can be obtained from any public library,post office, or telephone information service. As to who I am, everyoneknows who I am. Everyone who can read, that is. Can you read?“The man went on, .Dr. Harshaw, I am a police officer and I require yourcooperation. What is your reason-.
.Pooh to you, sir! I am a lawyer. A private citizen is required to cooperate withthe police under certain specified66 conditions only. For example, during hotpursuit-in which case the police officer may still be required to show hiscredentials. Is this .hot pursuit,’ sir? Are you about to dive through thisblasted instrument? Second, a private citizen may be required to cooperatewithin reasonable and lawful67 limits in the course of police investigation68-.
.This is an investigation.“.Of what, sir? Before you may require my cooperation in an investigation, youmust identify yourself, satisfy me as to your bona-fides, state your purpose,and-if I so require-cite the code and show that a .reasonable necessity’
exists. You have done none of these. I wish to speak to Mr. Berquist.“The man’s jaw69 muscles were jumping but he answered quietly, .Dr. Harshaw,I am Captain Heinrich of the Federation S.S. Bureau. The fact that youreached me by calling the Executive Palace should be ample proof that I amwho I say I am. However-. He took out a wallet, flipped70 it open, and held itclose to his own vision pickup. The picture blurred71, then quickly refocused.
Harshaw glanced at the I. D. thus displayed; it looked authentic72 enough, hedecided-especially as he did not care whether it was authentic or not.
.Very well, Captain,“ he growled74. .Will you now explain to me why you arekeeping me from speaking with Mr. Berquist?“.Mr. Berquist is not available.“.Then why didn’t you say so? In that case, transfer my call to someone ofBerquist’s rank. I mean one of the half-dozen people who work directly withthe Secretary General, as Gil does. I don’t propose again to be fobbed off Onsome junior assistant flunky with no authority to blow his own nose! If Gil isn’tthere and can’t handle it, then for God’s sake get me someone of equal rankwho can!“.You have been trying to telephone the Secretary General.“.Precisely75.“.Very well, you may explain to me what business you have with theSecretary General.“.And I may not. Are you a confidential76 assistant to the Secretary General?
Are you privy77 to his secrets?“.That’s beside the point.“.That’s exactly the point. As a police officer, you should know better. I shallexplain, to some person known to me to be cleared for sensitive material andin Mr. Douglas’ confidence, just enough to make sure that the SecretaryGeneral speaks to me. Are you sure Mr. Berquist can’t be reached?“.Quite sure.“.That’s too bad, he could have handled it quickly. Then it will have to beSomeone else-of his rank.“.If it’s that secret, you shouldn’t be calling over a public phone.“.My good Captain! I was not born yesterday-and neither were you. Since youhad this call traced, I am sure you are aware that my personal I phone isequipped to receive a maximum-security return call.“The Special Service officer made no direct reply. Instead he answered,.Doctor, I’ll be blunt and save time. Until you explain your business, youaren’t going to get an~ where. If you switch off and call the Palace again,your call will be routed to this office. Call a hundred times . . . or a month fromnow. Same thing. Until you decide to cooperate.“Jubal smiled happily. .It won’t be necessary now, as you have let slip -unwittingly, or was it intentional78?-the one datum79 needed before we act. If wedo. I can hold them off the rest of the day . . . but the code word is no longer.Berquist.’“.What the devil do you mean?“.My dear Captain, please! Not over an unscrambled circuit surely? But youknow, or should know, that I am a senior philosophunculist on active duty.“.Repeat?“.Haven’t you studied amphigory? Gad80, what they teach in schools thesedays! Go back to your pinochle game; I don’t need you.“ Jubal switched off atonce, set the phone for ten minutes refusal, said, .Come along, kids,“ andreturned to his favorite loafing spot near the pool. There he cautioned Anneto keep her Witness robe at hand day and night until further notice, told Miketo stay in earshot, and gave Miriam instructions concerning the telephone.
Then he relaxed.
He was not displeased81 with his efforts. He had not expected to be able toreach the Secretary General at once, through official channels. He felt thathis morning’s reconnaissance had developed at least one weak spot in thewall surrounding the Secretary and he expected-or hoped-that his stormysession with Captain Heinrich would bring a return call . . . from a higherlevel.
Or something.
If not, the exchange of compliments with the S.S. cop had been rewarding initself and had left him in a warm glow of artistic82 post-fructification. Harshawheld that certain feet were made for stepping on, in order to improve thebreed, promote the general welfare, and minimize the ancient insolence83 ofoffice; he had seen at once that Heinrich had such feet.
But, if no action developed, Harshaw wondered how long he could afford towait? In addition to the pending84 collapse85 of his .time bomb“ and the fact thathe had, in effect, promised Jill that he would take steps on behalf of BenCaxton (why couldn’t the child see that Ben probably could not be helpedindeed,was almost certainly beyond help-and that any direct or hasty actionminimized Mike’s chance of keeping his freedom?)- in addition to these twofactors, something new was crowding him: Duke was gone.
Gone for the day, gone for good (or gone for bad), Jubal did not know. Dukehad been present at dinner the night before, had not shown up for breakfast.
Neither event was noteworthy in Harshaw’s loosely coupled household andno one else appeared to have missed Duke. Jubal himself would notordinarily have noticed unless he had had occasion to yell for Duke. But thismorning Jubal had, of course, noticed . . . and he had refrained from shoutingfor Duke at least twice on occasions when he normally would have done so.
Jubal looked glumly86 across the pool, watched Mike attempt to perform a diveexactly as Dorcas had just performed it, and admitted to himself that he hadnot shouted for Duke when he needed him, on purpose. The truth was thathe simply did not want to ask the Bear what had happened to Algy. The Bearmight answer.
Well, there was only one way to cope with that sort of weakness. .Mike!
Come here.“.Yes, Jubal.“ The Man from Mars got out of the pool and trotted87 over like aneager puppy, waited. Harshaw looked him over, decided73 that he must weighat least twenty pounds more than he had on arrival . . . and all of it appearedto be muscle. .Mike, do you know where Duke is?“.No, Jubal.“Well, that settled it; the boy didn’t know how to lie-wait, hold it! Jubalreminded himself of Mike’s computer-like habit of answering exactly thequestion asked . . . and Mike had not known, or had not appeared to know,where that pesky box was, once it was gone. .Mike, when did you see himlast?“.I saw Duke go upstairs when Jill and I came downstairs, this morning whentime to cook breakfast.“ Mike added proudly, .I helped cooking.“.That was the last time you saw Duke?“.I am not see Duke since, Jubal. I proudly burned toast.“.I’ll bet you did. You’ll make some woman a fine husband yet, if you aren’tcareful.“.Oh, I burned it most carefully.“.Jubal-.
.Huh? Yes, Anne?“.Duke grabbed an early breakfast and lit out for town. I thought you knew.“.Well,“ Jubal temporized88, .he did say something about it. I thought heintended to leave after lunch today. No matter, it’ll keep.“ Jubal realizedsuddenly that a great load had been lifted from his mind. Not that Dukemeant anything to him, other than as an efficient handyman-no, of coursenot! For many years he had avoided letting any human being be important tohim-but, just the same, he had to admit that it would have troubled him. Alittle, anyhow.
What statute89 was violated, if any, in turning a man exactly ninety degreesfrom everything else?
Not murder, not as long as the lad used it only in self-defense or in the properdefense of another, such as Jill. Possibly the supposedly obsoletePennsylvania laws against witchcraft90 would apply . . . but it would beinteresting to see how a prosecutor91 would manage to word an indictment92.
A civil action might lie- Could harboring the Man from Mars be construed93 as.maintaining an attractive nuisance?“ Possibly. But it was more likely thatradically new rules of law must evolve. Mike had already kicked the bottomout of both medicine and physics, even though the practitioners94 of such werestill innocently unaware95 of the chaos96 facing them. Harshaw dug far back intohis memory and recalled the personal tragedy that relativistic mechanics hadproved to be for many distinguished97 scientists. Unable to digest it throughlong habit of mind, they had taken refuge in blind anger at Einstein himselfand any who dared to take him seriously. But their refuge had been a deadend; all that inflexible98 old guard could do was to die and let younger minds,still limber, take over.
Harshaw recalled that his grandfather had told him of much the same thinghappening in the field of medicine when the germ theory came along; manyolder physicians had gone to their graves calling Pasteur a liar99, a fool, orworse-and without examining evidence which their .common sense“ toldthem was impossible.
Well, he could see that Mike was geing to cause more hooraw than Pasteurand Einstein combined-squared and cubed. Which reminded him- .Larry!
Where’s Larry?“.Here, Boss,“ the loudspeaker mounted under the eaves behind himannounced. .Down in the shop.“.Got the panic button?“.Sure thing. You said to sleep with it on me. I do. I did.“.Bounce up here to the house and let me have it. No, give it to Anne. Anne,you keep it with your robe.“She nodded. Larry’s voice answered, .Right away, Boss. Count downcoming up?“.Just do it.“ Jubal looked up and was startled to find that the Man from Marswas still standing in front of him, quiet as a sculptured figure. Sculpture? Yes,he did remind one of sculpture . . . uh- Jubal searched his memory.
Michelangelo’s .David,“ that was it! Yes, even to the puppyish hands andfeet, the serenely100 sensual face, the tousled, too-long hair. .That was all Iwanted, Mike.“.Yes, Jubal.“But Mike continued to stand there. Jubal said, .Something on your mind?“.About what I was seeing in that goddam-noisy-box. You said, .All right, goahead. But come talk to me about it later.’“.Oh.“ Harshaw recalled the broadcast services of the Church of the NewRevelation and winced101. .Yes, we will talk. But first- Don’t call that thing agoddam noisy box. It is a stereovision receiver. Call it that.“Mike looked puzzled. .It is not a goddam-noisy-box? I heard you notrightly?“.You heard me rightly and it is indeed a goddam noisy box. You’ll hear mecall it that again. And other things. But you must call it a stereovisionreceiver.“.I will call it a .stereovision receiver.’ Why, Jubal? I do not grok.“Harshaw sighed, with a tired feeling that he had climbed these same stairstoo many times. Any conversation with Smith turned up at least one bit ofhuman behavior which could not be justified41 logically, at least in terms thatSmith could understand, and attempts to do so were endlessly timeconsuming.
.I do not grok it myself, Mike,“ he admitted, .but Jill wants you tosay it that way.“.I will do it, Jubal. Jill wants it.“.Now tell me what you saw and heard in that stereovision receiver- andwhat you grok of it.“The conversation that followed was even more lengthy102, confused, andrambling than a usual talk with Smith. Mike recalled accurately103 every wordand action he had heard and seen in the babble tank, including allcommercials. Since he had almost completed reading the encyclopedia104, hehad read its article on .Religion,“ as well as ones on .Christianity,“ .Islam,“.Judaism,“ .Confucianism,“ .Buddhism,“ and many others concerning religionand related subjects. But he had grokked none of this.
Jubal at last got certain ideas clear in his own mind: (a) Mike did not knowthat the Fosterite service was a religious one; (b) Mike remembered what hehad read about religions but had filed such data for future contemplation,having recognized that he did not understand them; (c) in fact, Mike had onlythe most confused notion of what the word .religion“ meant, even though hecould quote all nine definitions for same as given in the unabridgeddictionary; (d) the Martian language contained no word (and no concept)which Mike was able to equate106 with any of these nine definitions; (e) thecustoms which Jubal had described to Duke as Martian .religiousceremonies“ were nothing of the sort to Mike; to Mike such matters were asmatter-of-fact as grocery markets were to Jubal; (f) it was not possible toexpress as separate ideas in the Martian tongue the human concepts:
.religion,“ .philosophy,“ and .science“-and, since Mike still thought in Martianeven though he now spoke English fluently, it was not yet possible for him todistinguish any one such concept from the other two. All such matters weresimply .learnings“ which came from the .Old Ones.“ Doubt he had neverheard of and research was unnecessary (no Martian word for either); theanswer to any question should be obtained from the Old Ones, who wereomniscient (at least within Mike’s scope) and infallible, whether the subjectbe tomorrow’s weather or cosmic teleology107. (Mike had seen a weatherforecast in the babble box and had assumed without question that this was amessage from human .Old Ones“ being passed around for the benefit ofthose still corporate. Further inquiry108 disclosed that he held a similarassumption concerning the authors of the Encyclopedia Britannica.)But last, and worst to Jubal, causing him baffled consternation109, Mike hadgrokked the Fosterite service as including (among things he had not grokked)an announcement of an impending110 discorporation of two humans who wereabout to join the human .Old Ones“-~and Mike was tremendously excited atthis news. Had he grokked it rightly? Mike knew that his comprehension ofEnglish was less than perfect; he continued to make mistakes through hisignorance, being .only an egg.“ But had he grokked this correctly? He hadbeen waiting to meet the human .Old Ones,“ for he had many questions toask. Was this an opportunity? Or did he require more learnings from hiswater brothers before he was ready?
Jubal was saved by the bell. Dorcas arrived with sandwiches and coffee, thehousehold’s usual fair-weather picnic lunch. Jubal ate silently, which suitedSmith as his rearing had taught him that eating was a time for contemplationhehad found rather upsetting the chatter111 that usually took place at the table.
Jubal stretched out his meal while he pondered what to tell Mike- and cursedhimself for the folly112 of having permitted Mike to watch stereo in the first place.
Oh, he supposed the boy had to come up against human religions at somepoint-couldn’t be helped if he was going to spend the rest of his life on thisdizzy planet. But, damn it, it would have been better to wait until Mike wasmore used to the overall cockeyed pattern of human behavior . . . and, in anycase, certainly not Fosterites as his first experience!
As a devout113 agnostic, Jubal consciously evalued all religions, from theanimism of the Kalahari Bushmen to the most sober and intellectualized ofthe major western faiths, as being equal. But emotionally he disliked somemore than others . . . and the Church of the New Revelation set his teeth onedge. The Fosterites’ fiat-footed claim to utter gnosis through a direct pipelineto Heaven, their arrogant114 intolerance implemented115 in open persecution116 of allother religions wherever they were strong enough to get away with it, thesweaty football-rally & sales-convention flavor of their services-all theseancillary aspects depressed117 him. If people must go to church, why the devilcouldn’t they be dignified118 about it, like Catholics, Christian105 Scientists, orQuakers?
If God existed (a question concerning which Jubal maintained a meticulousintellectual neutrality) and if He desired to be worshipped (a propositionwhich Jubal found inherently improbable but conceivably possible in the dimlight of his own ignorance), then (stipulating affirmatively both the above) itnevertheless seemed wildly unlikely to Jubal to the point of reductio adabsurdum that a God potent4 to shape galaxies119 would be titillated120 and swayedby the whoop-te-do nonsense the Fosterites offered Him as .worship.“But with bleak121 honesty Jubal admitted to himself that the Universe(correction: that piece of the Universe he himself had seen) might very wellbe in toto an example of reduction to absurdity122. In which case the Fosteritesmight be possessed123 of the Truth, the exact Truth, and nothing but the Truth.
The Universe was a damned silly place at best . . . but the least likelyexplanation for its existence was the no-explanation of random124 chance, theconceit that some abstract somethings .just happened“ to be some atomsthat .just happened“ to get together in configurations126 which .just happened“to look like consistent laws and then some of these configurations .justhappened“ to possess self-awareness and that two such .just happened“ tobe the Man from Mars and the other a bald-headed old coot with Jubalhimself inside.
No, Jubal would not buy the .just happened“ theory, popular as it was withmen who called themselves scientists. Random chance was not a sufficientexplanation of the Universe-in fact, random chance was not sufficient toexplain random chance; the pot could not hold itself.
What then? .Least hypothesis“ held no place of preference; Occam’s razorcould not slice the prime problem, the Nature of the Mind of God (might aswell call it that to yourself, you old scoundrel; it’s a short, simple, Anglo-Saxon monosyllable, not banned by having four letters- and as good a tag forwhat you don’t understand as any).
Was there any basis for preferring any one sufficient hypothesis overanother? When you simply did not understand a thing: No! And Jubal readilyadmitted to himself that a long lifetime had left him completely. and totally notunderstanding the basic problems of the Universe.
So the Fosterites might be right. Jubal could not even show that they wereprobably wrong.
But, he reminded himself savagely127, two things remained to him~ his owntaste and his own pride. If indeed the Fosterites held a monopoly on Truth(as they claimed), if Heaven were open only to Fosterites, then he, JubalHarshaw, gentleman and free citizen, preferred that eternity of pain. filleddamnation promised to all .sinners“ who refused the New Revela..1 tion. Hemight not be able to see the naked Face of God . . but his ~ eyesight wasgood enough to pick out his social equals-and those Foster~ ites, by damn,did not measure up!
But he could see how Mike had been misled; the Fosterite .going to Heaven“at a pre-selected time and place did sound like the voluntary and planned.discorporation“ which, Jubal did not doubt, was the accepted~ practice onMars. Jubal himself held a dark suspicion that a better term for.~ theFosterite practice was .murder“-but such had never been proved and~ hadrarely been publicly hinted, much less charged, even when the cult128 wasyoung and relatively129 small. Foster himself had been the first to .go toHeaven“ on schedule, dying publicly at a self-prophesied instant. Since thatfirst example, it had been a Fosterite mark of special grace . . . and it hadbeen years since any coroner or district attorney had had the temerity130 to pryinto such deaths.
Not that Jubal cared whether they were spontaneous or induced. In hisopinion a good Fosterite was a dead Fosterite. Let them be!
But it was going to be hard to explain to Mike.
No use stalling, another cup of coffee wouldn’t make it any easier-~ .Mike,who made the world?“.Beg pardon?“.Look around you. All this. Mars, too. The stars. Everything. Yo~ and me andeverybody. Did the Old Ones tell you who made it?“Mike looked puzzled. .No, Jubal.“.Well, you have wondered about it, haven’t you? Where did the Silt131 comefrom? Who put the stars in the sky? Who started it all? All of it, everything,the whole world, the Universe . - . so that you and I are I talking.“ Jubalpaused, surprised at himself. He had intended to make thc~ usual agnosticapproach . . . and found himself compulsively followin~ his legal training,being an honest advocate in spite of himself, attempti~ to support a religiousbelief he did not hold but which was believed most human beings. He foundthat, willy-nilly, he was attorney for the orthodoxies of his own race againsthewasn’t sure what. An unhuman viewpoint. .How do your Old Ones answersuch questions?“.Jubal, I do not grok ... that these are questions. I am sorry.“.Eh? I don’t grok your answer.“Mike hesitated a long time. .I will try. But words are ... are not rightly. Not.putting.’ Not .mading.’ A nowing. World is. World was. World shall be. Now.“.’As it was in the beginning, so it now and ever shall be, World without end-.“Mike smiled happily. .You grok it!“.I don’t grok it,“ Jubal answered gruffly, .I was quoting something, uh, an .OldOne’ said.“ He decided to back off and try a new approach; apparently132 Godthe Creator was not the easiest aspect of Deity133 to try to explain to Mike as anopening . . . since Mike did not seem to grasp the idea of Creation itself. Well,Jubal wasn’t sure that he did, either-he had long ago made a pact134 withhimself to postulate135 a Created Universe on even-numbered days, a tailswallowingeternal-and-uncreated Universe on odd-numbered days-sinceeach hypothesis, while equally paradoxical, neatly136 avoided the paradoxes137 ofthe other-with, of course, a day off each leap year for sheer solipsistdebauchery. Having thus tabled an unanswerable question he had given nothought to it for more than a generation.
Jubal decided to try to explain the whole idea of religion in its broadest senseand then tackle the notion of Deity and Its aspects later.
Mike readily agreed that learnings came in various sizes, from little learningsthat even a nestling could grok on up to great learnings which only an OldOne could grok in perfect fullness. But Jubal’s attempt to draw a line betweensmall learnings and great learnings so that .great learnings“ would have thehuman meaning of .religious questions“ was not successful, as somereligious questions did not seem to Mike to be questions with any meaning tothem (such as .Creation“) and others seemed to him to be .little“ questions,with obvious answers known even to nestlings-such as life after death.
Jubal was forced to let it go at that and passed on to the multiplicity of humanreligions. He explained (or tried to explain) that humans had hundreds ofdifferent ways by which these .great learnings“ were taught, each with itsown answers and each claiming to be the truth.
.What is .truth’?“ Mike asked.
(.What is Truth?“ asked a Roman judge, and washed his hands of atroublesome question. Jubal wished that he could do likewise.) .An answer istruth when you speak rightly, Mike. How many hands do I have?“.Two hands. I see two hands,“ Mike amended138.
Anne glanced up from her knitting. .In six weeks I could make a Witness ofhim.“.You keep out of this, Anne. Things are tough enough without your help.
Mike, you spoke rightly; I have two hands. Your answer was truth. Supposeyou said that I had seven hands?“Mike looked troubled. .I do not grok that I could say that.“.No, I don’t think you could. You would not speak rightly if you did; youranswer would not be truth. But, Mike-now listen carefully-each religion claimsto be truth, claims to speak rightly. Yet their answers to the same questionare as different as two hands and seven hands. The Fosterites say one thing,the Buddhists139 say another, the Moslems say still another-many answers, alldifferent.“Mike seemed to be making a great effort to understand. .All speak rightly?
Jubal, I do not grok it.“.Nor do I.“The Man from Mars looked greatly troubled, then suddenly he smiled. .I willask the Fosterites to ask your Old Ones and then we will know, my brother.
How will I do this?“A few minutes later Jubal found, to his great disgust, that he had promisedMike an interview with some Fosterite bigmouth-or Mike seemed to think thathe had, which came to the same thing. Nor had he been able to do morethan dent11 Mike’s assumption that the Fosterites were in close touch withhuman .Old Ones.“ It appeared that Mike’s difficulty in understanding thenature of truth was that he didn’t know what a lie was—the dictionarydefinitions of .lie“ and .falsehood“ had been filed in his mind with no trace ofgrokking. One could .speak wrongly“ only by accident or misunderstanding.
So he necessarily had taken what he had heard of the Fosterite service at itsbald, face value.
Jubal tried to explain that all human religions claimed to be in touch with .OldOnes“ in one way or another; nevertheless their answers were all different.
Mike looked patiently troubled. .Jubal my brother, I try ... but I do not grokhow this can be might speaking. With my people, the Old Ones speak alwaysrightly. Your people-.
.Hold it, Mike.“.Beg pardon?“.When you said, .my people’ you were talking about Martians. Mike, you arenot a Martian; you are a man.“.What is .Man’?“Jubal groaned140 inwardly. Mike could, he was sure, quote the full list ofdictionary definitions. Yet the lad never asked a question simply to beannoying; he asked always for information-and he expected his water brotherJubal to be able to tell him. .I am a man, you are a man, Larry is a man.“.But Anne is not a man?“.Uh ... Anne is a man, a female man. A woman.“(.Thanks, Jubal.“-.Shut up, Anne.“).A baby is a man? I have not seen babies, but I have seen pictures- and inthe goddam-noi-in stereovision. A baby is not shaped like Anne and Anne isnot shaped like you . . . and you are not shaped like I. But a baby is anestling man?“.Uh ... yes, a baby is a man.“.Jubal ... I think I grok that my people-.Martians’-are man. Not shape, Shapeis not man. Man is grokking. I speak rightly?“Jubal made a fierce resolve to resign from the Philosophical141 Society and takeup tatting. What was .grokking“? He had been using the word himself for aweek now-and he still didn’t grok it. But what was .Man“? A featherlessbiped? God’s image? Or simply a fortuitous result of the .survival of thefittest“ in a completely circular and tautological142 definition? The heir of deathand taxes? The Martians seemed to have defeated death, and he hadalready learned that they seemed to have neither money, property, norgovernment in any human sense-so how could they have taxes?
And yet the boy was right; shape was an irrelevancy143 in defining .Man,“ asunimportant as the bottle containing the wine. You could even take a man outof his bottle, like the poor fellow whose life those Russians had persisted in.saving“ by placing his living brain in a vitreous envelope and wiring him likea telephone exchange. Gad, what a horrible joke! He wondered if the poordevil appreciated the grisly humor of what had beenBut how, in essence, from the unprejudiced viewpoint of a Martian, did Mandiffer from other earthly animals? Would a race that could levitate144 (and Godknows what else) be impressed by engineering? And, if so, would the AswanDam, or a thousand miles of coral reef, win first prize? Man’s selfawareness?
Sheer local conceit125; the upstate counties had not reported, forthere was no way to prove that sperm145 whales or giant sequoias were notphilosophers and poets far exceeding any human merit.
There was one field in which man was unsurpassed; he showed unlimitedingenuity in devising bigger and more efficient ways to kill off, enslave,harass, and in all ways make an unbearable146 nuisance of himself to himself.
Man was his own grimmest joke on himself. The very bedrock of humor was-.Man is the animal who laughs,“ Jubal answered.
Mike considered this seriously. .Then I am not a man.“.Huh?“.I do not laugh. I have heard laughing and it frighted me. Then I grokked thatit did not hurt. I have tried to learn-. Mike threw his head back and gave out araucous cackle, more nerve-racking than the idiot call of a kookaburra.
Jubal covered his ears. .Stop! Stop!“.You heard,“ Mike agreed sadly. .I cannot rightly do it. So I am not man.“.Wait a minute, son. Don’t give up so quickly. You simply haven’t learned tolaugh yet . . . and you’ll never learn just by trying. But you will learn, I promiseyou. If you live among us long enough, one day you will see how funny weare-and you will laugh.“.I will?“.You will. Don’t worry about it and don’t try to grok it; just let it come. Why,son, even a Martian would laugh once he grokked us.“.I will wait,“ Smith agreed placidly147.
.And while you are waiting, don’t ever doubt that you are a man. You are.
Man born of woman and born to trouble . . . and some day you will grok itsfullness and you will laugh-because man is the animal that laughs at himself.
About your Martian friends, I do not know. I have never met them, I do notgrok them. But I grok that they may be .man.’“.Yes, Jubal.“Harshaw thought that the interview was over and felt relieved. He decidedthat he had not been so embarrassed since a day long gone when his fatherhad undertaken to explain to him the birds and the bees and the flowersmuchtoo late.
But the Man from Mars was not quite done. .Jubal my brother, you were askme, .Who made the World?’ and I did not have words to say why I did notrightly grok it to be a question. I have been thinking words.“.So?“.You told me, .God made the World.’“.No, no!“ Harshaw said hastily. .I told you that, while all these many religionssaid many things, most of them said, .God made the World.’ I told you that Idid not grok the fullness, but that .God’ was the word that was used.“.Yes, Jubal,“ Mike agreed. .Word is .God’“ He added. .You grok.“.No, I must admit I don’t grok.“.You grok,“ Smith repeated firmly. .I am explain. I did not have the word. Yougrok. Anne groks. I grok. The grass under my feet groks in happy beauty. ButI needed the word. The word is God.“Jubal shook his head to clear it. .Go ahead.“Mike pointed148 triumphantly149 at Jubal. .Thou art God!“Jubal slapped a hand to his face. .Oh, Jesus H.- What have I done? Look,Mike, take it easy! Simmer down! You didn’t understand me. I’m sorry. I’mvery sorry! Just forget what I’ve been saying and we’ll start over again onanother day. But-.
.Thou art God,“ Mike repeated serenely. .That which groks. Anne is God. Iam God. The happy grass are God, Jill groks in beauty always. Jill is God. Allshaping and making and creating together-.“ He croaked150 something inMartian and smiled.
.All right, Mike. But let it wait. Anne, have you been getting all this?“.You bet I have, Boss!“.Make me a tape. I’ll have to work on it. I can’t let it stand. I must-. Jubalglanced up, said, .Oh, my God! General Quarters, everybody! Anne! Set thepanic button on .dead-man’ setting-and for God’s sake keep your thumb on it;they may not be coming here.“ He glanced up again, at two large air carsapproaching from the south. .But I’m afraid they are. Mike! Hide in the pool!
Remember what I told you-down in the deepest part, stay there, hold still-anddon’t come up until I send Jill to get you.“.Yes, Jubal.“.Right now! Move!“.Yes, Jubal.“ Mike ran the few steps, cut the water and disappeared. Heremembered to keep his knees straight, his toes pointed and his feettogether.
.Jill!“ Jubal called out. .Dive in and climb Out. You too, Larry. If anybody sawthat, I want .em confused as to how many are using the pool. Dorcast ClimbOut fast, child, and dive in again. Anne- No, you’ve got the panic button; youcan’t.“.I can take my cloak and go to the edge of the pool. Boss, do you want somedelay on this .dead-man’ setting?“.Uh, yes, thirty seconds. If they land here, put on your Witness cloak at onceand get your thumb back on the button. Then wait-and if I call you over tome, let the balloon go up. But I don’t dare shout .Wolf!’ on this unless-. Heshielded his eyes. .One of them is certainly going to land and it’s got thatPaddy-wagon151 look to it, all right. Oh, damn, I had thought they would parleyfirst.“The first car hovered152, then dropped vertically153 for a landing in the garden areaaround the pool; the second started slowly circling the house at low altitude.
The cars were black, squad154 carriers in size, and showed only a small,inconspicuous insignia: the stylized globe of the Federation.
Anne put down the radio relay link that would let .the balloon go up,“ gotquickly into her professional garb155, picked the link up again and put her thumbback on the button. The door of the first car started to open as it touched andJubal charged toward it with the cocky belligerence156 of a Pekingese. As a manstepped out, Jubal roared, .Get that God damned heap off my rose hushes157!“The man said, .Jubal Harshaw?“.You heard me! Tell that oaf you’ve got driving for you to raise that bucketand move it back! Off the garden entirely159 and onto the grass! Anne!“.Coming, Boss.“.Jubal Harshaw, I have a warrant here for-.
.I don’t care if you’ve got a warrant for the King of England; first you’ll movethat junk heap off my flowers! Then, so help me, I’ll sue you for-. Jubalglanced at the man who had landed, appeared to see him for the first time.
.Oh, so it’s you,“ he said with bitter contempt. .Were you born stupid,Heinrich, or did you have to study for it? And when did that uniformed jackassworking for you learn to fly? Earlier today? Since I talked to you?“.Please examine this warrant,“ Captain Heinrich said with careful patience.
.Then-.
.Get your go-cart out of my flower beds at once or I’ll make a civil rights caseout of this that will cost you your pension!“Heinrich hesitated. .Wow!“ Jubal screamed. .And tell those other yokelsgetting out to pick up their big feet! That idiot with the buck158 teeth is standingon a prize Elizabeth M. Hewitt!“Heinrich turned his head. .You men-careful of those flowers. Paskin, you’restanding on one. Rogers! Raise the car and move it back about fifty feet,clear of the garden.“ He turned his attention back to Harshaw. .Does thatsatisfy you?“.Once he actually moves it-but you’ll still pay damages. Let’s see yourcredentials . . and show them to the Fair Witness and state loud and clearlyto her your name, rank, organization, and pay number.“.You know who I am. Now I have a warrant to-.
.I have a common-law warrant to part your hair with a shotgun unless you dothings legally and in order! I don’t know who you are. You look remarkablylike a stuffed shirt I saw over the telephone earlier today -but that’s notevidence and I don’t identify you. You must identify yourself, in the specifiedlegal fashion, World Code paragraph 1602, part II, before you can serve awarrant. And that goes for all those other apes, too, and that pithecanparasite piloting for you.“.They are police officers, acting160 under my orders.“.I don’t know that they are anything of the sort. They might have hired thoseill-fitting clown suits at a costumer’s. The letter of the law, sir! You’ve comebarging into my castle. You say you are a police officer-and you allege19 thatyou have a warrant for this intrusion. But I say you are trespassers until youprove otherwise . . . which invokes161 my sovereign right to use all necessaryforce to eject you-which I shall start to do in about three seconds.“.I wouldn’t advise it.“.Who are you to advise? If I am hurt in attempting to enforce this my right,your action becomes constructive162 assault-with deadly weapons, if thosethings those mules163 are toting are guns, as they appear to be. Civil andcriminal, both-why, my man, I’ll wind up with your hide for a door mat!“ Jubaldrew back a skinny arm and clenched164 a bony fist. .Off my property!“.Hold it, Doctor. We’ll do it your way.“ Heinrich had turned bright red, but hekept his voice under tight control. He offered his identification, which Jubalglanced at, then turned back to him for him to show to Anne. Heinrich thenstated his full name, said that he was a captain of police, Federation SpecialService Bureau, and recited his pay number. One by one, the other six menwho had left the car, and at last the driver, went through the same rigamaroleat Heinrich’s frozen-faced orders.
When they were done, Jubal said sweetly, .And now, Captain Heinrich,how may I help you?“.I have a search warrant here for Gilbert Berquist, which warrant names thisproperty, its buildings and grounds.“.Show it to me, then show it to the Witness.“.I will do so. But I have another search warrant, similar to the first, for GillianBoardman.“.Who?“.Gillian Boardman. The charge is kidnapping.“.My goodness!“.And another for Hector C. Johnson ... and one for Valentine Michael Smith .
. . and one for you, Jubal Harshaw.“.Me? Taxes again?“.No. Look at it. Accessory to this and that ... and material witness on someother things . . . and I’d take you in on my own for obstructing165 justice if thewarrant didn’t make it unnecessary.“.Oh, come now, Captain! I’ve been most cooperative since you identifiedyourself and started behaving in a legal manner. And I shall continue to be.
Of course, I shall still sue all of you-and your immediate57 superior and thegovernment-for your illegal acts before that time . . and I am not waiving166 anyrights or recourses with respect to anything any of you may do hereafter.
Mmm . . . quite a list of victims. I see why you brought an extra wagon. Butdearme! something odd here. This, uh, Mrs. Borkmann?-I see that she ischarged with kidnapping this Smith fellow . . . but in this other warrant heseems to be charged with fleeing custody167. I’m confused.“.It’s both. He escaped-and she kidnapped him.“.Isn’t that rather difficult to manage? Both, I mean? And on what charge washe being held? The warrant does not seem to state?“.How the devil do I know? He escaped, that’s all. He’s a fugitive168.“.Gracious me! I rather think I shall have to offer my services as counsel toeach of them. Interesting case. If a mistake has been made-or mistakes-itcould lead to other matters.“Heinrich grinned coldly. .You won’t find it easy. You’ll be in the pokey, too.“.Oh, not for long, I trust.“ Jubal raised his voice more than necessary andturned his head toward the house. .I do know another lawyer. I rather think, ifJudge Holland were listening to this, habeas corpus proceedings- for all ofus-might be rather prompt. And if the Associated Press just happened tohave a courier car nearby, there would be no time lost in knowing where toserve such writs169.“.Always the shyster, eh, Harshaw?“.Slander170, my dear sir. I take notice.“.A fat lot of good it will do you. We’re alone.“.Are We?“
收听单词发音 |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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potent
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| adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的 | |
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embalmed
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| adj.用防腐药物保存（尸体）的v.保存（尸体）不腐( embalm的过去式和过去分词 )；使不被遗忘；使充满香气 | |
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amendments
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| （法律、文件的）改动( amendment的名词复数 )； 修正案； 修改； （美国宪法的）修正案 | |
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nominal
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| adj.名义上的；(金额、租金)微不足道的 | |
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superseded
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| [医]被代替的，废弃的 | |
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federation
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| n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会 | |
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solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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dent
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| n.凹痕，凹坑；初步进展 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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benign
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| adj.善良的，慈祥的；良性的，无危险的 | |
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symbiosis
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| n.共生（关系），共栖 | |
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barricade
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| n.路障，栅栏，障碍；vt.设路障挡住 | |
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circumvent
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| vt.环绕，包围；对…用计取胜，智胜 | |
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maze
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| n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑 | |
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obsession
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| n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感) | |
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allege
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| vt.宣称，申述，主张，断言 | |
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astronomers
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| n.天文学者，天文学家( astronomer的名词复数 ) | |
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secondly
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| adv.第二，其次 | |
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corporate
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| adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的 | |
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eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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velocity
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| n.速度，速率 | |
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acceleration
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| n.加速，加速度 | |
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turmoil
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| n.骚乱，混乱，动乱 | |
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frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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implicit
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| a.暗示的，含蓄的，不明晰的，绝对的 | |
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subversive
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| adj.颠覆性的，破坏性的；n.破坏份子，危险份子 | |
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parasite
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| n.寄生虫；寄生菌；食客 | |
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immortality
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| n.不死，不朽 | |
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dome
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| n.圆屋顶，拱顶 | |
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electrified
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| v.使电气化( electrify的过去式和过去分词 )；使兴奋 | |
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austerely
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| adv.严格地，朴质地 | |
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rabble
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| n.乌合之众，暴民；下等人 | |
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aggrieved
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| adj.愤愤不平的，受委屈的；悲痛的；（在合法权利方面）受侵害的v.令委屈，令苦恼，侵害( aggrieve的过去式)；令委屈，令苦恼，侵害( aggrieve的过去式和过去分词) | |
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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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disdained
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| 鄙视( disdain的过去式和过去分词 )； 不屑于做，不愿意做 | |
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39
buffers
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| 起缓冲作用的人（或物）( buffer的名词复数 )； 缓冲器； 减震器； 愚蠢老头 | |
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40
odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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41
justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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42
frustrated
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| adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧 | |
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43
defense
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| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
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44
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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45
urbane
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| adj.温文尔雅的，懂礼的 | |
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46
irritation
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| n.激怒，恼怒，生气 | |
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47
snarled
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| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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48
enquire
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| v.打听，询问；调查，查问 | |
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49
soothing
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| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
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50
pickup
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| n.拾起，获得 | |
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51
babble
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| v.含糊不清地说，胡言乱语地说，儿语 | |
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52
demonstration
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| n.表明，示范，论证，示威 | |
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53
kits
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| 衣物和装备( kit的名词复数 )； 成套用品； 配套元件 | |
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54
zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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55
dabbed
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| （用某物）轻触( dab的过去式和过去分词 )； 轻而快地擦掉（或抹掉）； 快速擦拭； （用某物）轻而快地涂上（或点上）… | |
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56
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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57
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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58
pint
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| n.品脱 | |
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59
distilled
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| adj.由蒸馏得来的v.蒸馏( distil的过去式和过去分词 )；从…提取精华 | |
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60
penance
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| n.（赎罪的）惩罪 | |
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61
offset
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| n.分支，补偿；v.抵消，补偿 | |
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62
literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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63
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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64
bovine
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| adj.牛的；n.牛 | |
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65
versus
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| prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下 | |
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66
specified
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| adj.特定的 | |
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67
lawful
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| adj.法律许可的，守法的，合法的 | |
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68
investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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69
jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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70
flipped
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| 轻弹( flip的过去式和过去分词 )； 按（开关）； 快速翻转； 急挥 | |
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71
blurred
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| 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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72
authentic
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| a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的 | |
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73
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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74
growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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75
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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76
confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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77
privy
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| adj.私用的；隐密的 | |
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78
intentional
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| adj.故意的，有意（识）的 | |
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79
datum
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| n.资料；数据；已知数 | |
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80
gad
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| n.闲逛；v.闲逛 | |
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81
displeased
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| a.不快的 | |
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82
artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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83
insolence
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| n.傲慢；无礼；厚颜；傲慢的态度 | |
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84
pending
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| prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的 | |
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85
collapse
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| vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷 | |
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86
glumly
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| adv.忧郁地，闷闷不乐地；阴郁地 | |
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87
trotted
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| 小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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88
temporized
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| v.敷衍( temporize的过去式和过去分词 )；拖延；顺应时势；暂时同意 | |
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89
statute
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| n.成文法，法令，法规；章程，规则，条例 | |
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90
witchcraft
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| n.魔法，巫术 | |
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91
prosecutor
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| n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人 | |
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92
indictment
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| n.起诉；诉状 | |
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93
construed
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| v.解释（陈述、行为等）( construe的过去式和过去分词 )；翻译，作句法分析 | |
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94
practitioners
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| n.习艺者，实习者( practitioner的名词复数 )；从业者（尤指医师） | |
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95
unaware
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| a.不知道的，未意识到的 | |
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96
chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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97
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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98
inflexible
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| adj.不可改变的，不受影响的，不屈服的 | |
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99
liar
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| n.说谎的人 | |
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100
serenely
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| adv.安详地，宁静地，平静地 | |
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101
winced
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| 赶紧避开，畏缩( wince的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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102
lengthy
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| adj.漫长的，冗长的 | |
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103
accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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104
encyclopedia
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| n.百科全书 | |
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105
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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106
equate
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| v.同等看待，使相等 | |
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107
teleology
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| n.目的论 | |
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108
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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109
consternation
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| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
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110
impending
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| a.imminent, about to come or happen | |
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111
chatter
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| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
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112
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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113
devout
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| adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness) | |
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114
arrogant
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| adj.傲慢的，自大的 | |
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115
implemented
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| v.实现( implement的过去式和过去分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效 | |
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116
persecution
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| n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
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117
depressed
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| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
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118
dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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119
galaxies
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| 星系( galaxy的名词复数 )； 银河系； 一群（杰出或著名的人物） | |
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120
titillated
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| v.使觉得痒( titillate的过去式和过去分词 )；逗引；激发；使高兴 | |
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121
bleak
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| adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的 | |
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122
absurdity
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| n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论 | |
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123
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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124
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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125
conceit
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| n.自负，自高自大 | |
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126
configurations
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| n.[化学]结构( configuration的名词复数 )；构造；（计算机的）配置；构形（原子在分子中的相对空间位置） | |
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127
savagely
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| adv. 野蛮地，残酷地 | |
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128
cult
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| n.异教，邪教；时尚，狂热的崇拜 | |
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129
relatively
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| adv.比较...地，相对地 | |
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130
temerity
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| n.鲁莽，冒失 | |
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131
silt
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| n.淤泥，淤沙，粉砂层，泥沙层；vt.使淤塞；vi.被淤塞 | |
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132
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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133
deity
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| n.神，神性；被奉若神明的人(或物) | |
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134
pact
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| n.合同，条约，公约，协定 | |
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135
postulate
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| n.假定，基本条件；vt.要求，假定 | |
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136
neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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137
paradoxes
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| n.似非而是的隽语，看似矛盾而实际却可能正确的说法( paradox的名词复数 )；用于语言文学中的上述隽语；有矛盾特点的人[事物，情况] | |
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138
Amended
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| adj. 修正的 动词amend的过去式和过去分词 | |
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139
Buddhists
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| n.佛教徒( Buddhist的名词复数 ) | |
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140
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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141
philosophical
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| adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的 | |
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142
tautological
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| adj.重复的；累赘的 | |
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143
irrelevancy
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| n.不恰当，离题，不相干的事物 | |
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144
levitate
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| v.升在空中 | |
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145
sperm
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| n.精子，精液 | |
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146
unbearable
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| adj.不能容忍的；忍受不住的 | |
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147
placidly
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| adv.平稳地，平静地 | |
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148
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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149
triumphantly
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| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
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150
croaked
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| 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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151
wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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152
hovered
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| 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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153
vertically
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| adv.垂直地 | |
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154
squad
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| n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组 | |
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155
garb
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| n.服装，装束 | |
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156
belligerence
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| n.交战，好战性，斗争性 | |
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157
hushes
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| n.安静，寂静( hush的名词复数 ) | |
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158
buck
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| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
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159
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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160
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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161
invokes
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| v.援引( invoke的第三人称单数 )；行使（权利等）；祈求救助；恳求 | |
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162
constructive
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| adj.建设的，建设性的 | |
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163
mules
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| 骡( mule的名词复数 )； 拖鞋； 顽固的人； 越境运毒者 | |
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164
clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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165
obstructing
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| 阻塞( obstruct的现在分词 )； 堵塞； 阻碍； 阻止 | |
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166
waiving
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| v.宣布放弃( waive的现在分词 )；搁置；推迟；放弃（权利、要求等） | |
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167
custody
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| n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留 | |
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168
fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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169
writs
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| n.书面命令，令状( writ的名词复数 ) | |
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170
slander
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| n./v.诽谤，污蔑 | |
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