Winter came early in sheets of icy rain that went on day after day after day. The work in the laboratories increased, and David found himself blessing1 his grandfather for his purchase of Selnick’s equipment, which had come with detailed2 instructions for making artificial placentas as well as nearly completed work on computer programs for synthetic3 amniotic fluids. When David had gone to talk to Selnick about the equipment, Selnick had insisted—madly, David had thought at the time—that he take everything or nothing. “You’ll see,” he had said wildly. “You’ll see.” The following week he had hanged himself, and the equipment was on its way to the Virginia valley.
They worked and slept in the lab, leaving only for meals. The winter rains gave way to spring rains, and a new softness was in the air.
David was leaving the cafeteria, his mind on the work in the lab, when he felt a tug4 on his arm. It was his mother. He hadn’t seen her for weeks, and would have brushed past her with a quick hello if she hadn’t stopped him. She looked strange, childlike. He turned from her to stare out the window, waiting for her to release his arm.
“Celia’s coming home,” she said softly. “She’s well, she says.”
David felt frozen; he continued to stare out the window seeing nothing. “Where is she now?” He listened to the rustle5 of cheap paper and when it seemed that his mother was not going to answer him, he wheeled about. “Where is she?”
“Miami,” she said finally, after scanning the two pages. “It’s postmarked Miami, I think. It’s over two weeks old. Dated May 28. She never got any of our mail.” She pressed the letter into David’s hand. Tears overflowed6 her eyes, and heedless of them she walked away.
David didn’t read the letter until his mother had left the cafeteria. I was in Colombia for a while, eight months, I think. And I got a touch of the bug7 that nobody wants to name. The writing was spindly and uncertain. She was not well then. He looked for Walt.
“I have to go get her. She can’t walk in on that gang at the Wiston place.”
“You know you can’t leave now.”
“It isn’t a question of can or can’t. I have to.”
Walt studied him for a moment, then shrugged8. “How will you get there and back? No gas. You know we don’t dare use any for anything but the harvest.”
“I know,” David said impatiently. “I’ll take Mike and the cart. I can stay on the back roads with Mike.” He knew that Walt was calculating, as he had done, the time involved, and he felt his face tightening9, his hands clenching10. Walt simply nodded. “I’ll leave as soon as it’s light in the morning.” Again Walt nodded. “Thanks,” David said suddenly. He meant for not arguing with him, for not pointing out what both already knew—that there was no way of knowing how long he would have to wait for Celia, that she might never make it to the farm.
Three miles from the Wiston farm, David unhitched the cart and hid it in thick underbrush. He swept over the tracks where he had left the dirt road, and then led Mike into the woods. The air was hot and heavy with threatening rain; to his left he could hear the roar of Crooked11 Creek12 as it raged out of bounds. The ground was spongy and he walked carefully, not wanting to sink to his knees in the treacherous13 mud here in the lowlands. The Wiston farm always had been flood-prone; it enriched the soil, Grandfather Wiston had claimed, not willing to damn nature for its periodic rampages. “God didn’t mean for this piece of ground to have to bear year after year after year,” he said. “Comes a time when the earth needs a rest, same as you and me. We’ll let it be this year, give it some clover when the ground dries out.”
David started to climb, still leading Mike, who whinnied softly at him now and again. “Just to the knob, boy,” David said quietly. “Then you can rest and eat meadow grass until she gets here.”
Grandfather Wiston had taken him to the knob once, when David was twelve. He remembered the day, hot and still like this day, he thought, and Grandfather Wiston had been straight and strong. At the knob his grandfather had paused and touched the massive bole of a white oak tree. “This tree saw the Indians in that valley, David, and the first settlers, and my great-grandfather when he came along. It’s our friend, David. It knows all the family secrets.”
“Is it still your property up here, Grandfather?”
“Up to and including this tree, son. Other side’s national forest land, but this tree, it’s on our land. Yours too, David. One day you’ll come up here and put your hand on this tree and you’ll know it’s your friend, just like it’s been my friend all my life. God help us all if anyone ever lays an ax to it.”
They had gone on that day, down the other side of the knob, then up again, farther and steeper this time until once more his grandfather paused for a few moments, his hand on David’s shoulder. “This is how this land looked a million years ago, David.” Time had shifted suddenly for the boy; a million years, a hundred million, was all the same distant past, and he imagined the tread of the giant reptiles14. He imagined that he smelled the fetid breath of a tyrannosaur. It was cool and misty15 under the tall trees, and below them the saplings grew, with their branches spread horizontally, as if to catch any stray bit of sunlight that penetrated16 the high canopy17. Where the sun did find a path through, it was golden and soft, the sun of another time. In even deeper shadows grew bushes and shrubs18, and at the foot of it all were the mosses19 and lichens20, liverworts and ferns. The arching, heaving roots of the trees were clothed in velvet21 emerald plants.
David stumbled and, catching22 his balance, came to rest against the giant oak tree that was, somehow, his friend. He pressed his cheek against the rough bark for a few moments, then he pushed himself away and looked up through the luxuriant branches; he could see no sky through them. When it rained, the tree would protect him from the full force of the storm, but he needed shelter from the fine drops that would make their way through the leaves to fall quietly on the absorbent ground.
Before he started to build a lean-to, he examined the farm through his binoculars23. Behind the house, there was a garden being tended by five people; impossible to tell if they were male or female. Long-haired, jeans, barefoot, thin. It didn't matter. He noted24 that the garden was not producing yet, that the plants were sparse25 and frail26. He studied the east field, aware that it was changed but not certain what was different. Then he realized that it was growing corn. Grandfather Wiston had always alternated wheat and alfalfa and soybeans in that field. The lower fields were flooded, and the north field was grown up in grasses and weeds. He swept the glasses slowly over the buildings. He spotted27 seventeen people altogether. No child younger than eight or nine. No sign of Celia, nor of any recent use of the road, which was also grown up with weeds. No doubt the people down there were just as happy to let the road hide under weeds.
He built a lean-to against the oak, where he could lie down and observe the farm. He used fir branches to roof the shelter, and when the storm came half an hour later he stayed dry. Rivulets28 ran among the garden rows below, and the farmyard turned silver and sparkly from this distance, although he knew that closer it would simply be muddy water inches deep. The ground was too saturated29 in the valley to absorb any more water. It would have to run off into Crooked Creek, which was inching higher and higher toward the north field and the vulnerable corn there.
By the third day the water had started to invade the cornfield, and he pitied the people who stood and watched helplessly. The garden was still being tended, but it would be a meager30 harvest. By now he had counted twenty-two people; he thought that was all of them. During the storm that lashed31 the valley that afternoon, he heard Mike whinny and he crawled from the lean-to and stood up. Mike, down the slope of the knob, wouldn’t mind the rain too much, and he was protected from the wind. Still, he whinnied again, and then again. Cautiously, holding his shotgun in one hand, shielding his eyes from the lashing32 rain with the other, David edged around the tree. A figure stumbled up the knob haltingly, head bowed, stopping often, then moving on again, not looking up, probably blinded by the rain. Suddenly David threw the shotgun under the lean-to and ran to meet her. “Celia!” he cried. “Celia!”
She stopped and raised her head. The rain ran over her cheeks and plastered her hair to her forehead. She dropped the shoulder bag that had weighed her down and ran toward him, and only when he caught her and held her tight and hard did he realize that he was weeping, as she was.
Under the lean-to he pulled off her wet clothes and rubbed her dry, then wrapped her in one of his shirts. Her lips were blue, her skin seemed almost translucent33; it was unearthly white.
“I knew you’d be here,” she said. Her eyes were very large, deep blue, bluer than he remembered, or bluer in contrast to her pale skin. Before, she had been always sunburned.
“I knew you’d come here,” he said. “When did you eat?”
She shook her head. “I didn’t believe it was this bad here. I thought it was propaganda. Everyone thinks it’s propaganda.”
He nodded and lighted the Sterno. She sat wrapped in his plaid shirt and watched him as he opened a can of stew34 and heated it.
“Who are those people down there?”
“Squatters. Grandmother and Grandfather Wiston died last year. That gang showed up. They gave Aunt Hilda and Uncle Eddie a choice, join them or get out. They didn’t give Wanda any chance at all. They kept her.”
She stared down into the valley and nodded slowly. “I didn’t know it was this bad. I didn’t believe it.” Without looking back at him, she asked then, “And Mother, Father?”
“They’re dead, Celia. Flu, both of them. Last winter.”
“I didn’t get any letters,” she said. “Almost two years. They made us leave Brazil, you know. But there wasn’t any transportation home. We went to Colombia. They promised to let us go home in three months. And then they came one night, late, almost at dawn, and said we had to get out. There were riots, you know.”
He nodded, although she was still staring down at the farm and couldn’t see. He wanted to tell her to weep for her parents, to cry out, so that he could take her in his arms and try to comfort her. But she continued to sit motionlessly and speak in a dead voice.
“They were coming for us, for the Americans. They blame us, for letting them starve. They really believe that everything is still all right here. I did too. No one believed any of the reports. And the mobs were coming for us. We left on a small boat, a skiff. Nineteen of us. They shot at us when we got too near Cuba.”
David touched her arm and she jerked and trembled. “Celia, turn around and eat now. Don’t talk any longer. Later. You can tell us about it later.”
She looked at him and slowly shook her head. “Never again. I’ll never mention any of it again, David. I just wanted you to know there was nothing I could do. I wanted to come home and there wasn’t any way.”
She didn’t look quite so blue-cold now, and he watched with relief as she started to eat. She was hungry. He made coffee, the last of his coffee ration35.
“You want me to fill you in on anything here?”
She shook her head. “Not yet. I saw Miami, and the people, all trying to get somewhere else, standing36 in line for days, standing on the trains. They’re evacuating37 Miami. People are falling dead, and they’re just leaving them where they fall.” She shivered violently. “Don’t tell me anything else yet.”
The storm was over, and the night air was cool. They huddled38 under a blanket and sat without talking, drinking hot black coffee. When the cup began to tilt39 in Celia’s hand, David took it from her and gently lowered her to the bed he had prepared. “I love you, Celia,” he said softly. “I’ve always loved you.”
“I love you, too, David. Always.” Her eyes were closed and her lashes40 were very black on her white cheeks. David leaned over and kissed her forehead, pulled the blanket higher about her, and watched her sleep for a long time before he lay down beside her and also slept.
During the night she roused once, moaning, twisting about, and he held her until she quieted. She didn’t wake up completely, and what words she said were not intelligible41.
The next morning they left the oak tree and started for the Sumner farm. She rode Mike until they got to the cart; by then she was trembling with exhaustion42 and her lips were blue again, although the day was already hot. There wasn’t room for her to lie down in the cart, so he padded the back of the wooden seat with his bedroll and blanket, where she could at least put her head back and rest, when the road wasn’t too bumpy43 and the cart didn’t jounce too hard. She smiled faintly when he covered her legs with another shirt, the one he had been wearing.
“It isn’t cold, you know,” she said matter-of-factly. “That goddamn bug does something to the heart, I think. No one would tell us anything about it. My symptoms all involve the circulatory system.”
“How bad was it? When did you get it?”
“Eighteen months ago, I think. Just before they made us leave Brazil. It swept Rio. That’s where they took us when we got sick. Not many survived it. Hardly any of the later cases. It became more virulent44 as time went on.”
He nodded. “Same here. Something like sixty percent fatal, increasing up to eighty percent by now, I guess.”
There was a long silence then, and he thought that perhaps she had drifted off to sleep. The road was no more than a pair of ruts that were gradually being reclaimed45 by the underbrush. Already grass covered it almost totally, except where the rains had washed the dirt away and left only rocks. Mike walked deliberately46 and David didn’t hurry him.
“David, how many are up at the northern end of the valley?”
“About one hundred ten now,” he said. He thought, two out of three dead, but he didn’t say it.
“And the hospital? Was it built?”
“It’s there. Walt is running it.”
“David, while you’re driving, now that you can’t watch me for reactions or anything, just tell me about it here. What’s been happening, who’s alive, who’s dead. Everything.”
When they stopped for lunch, hours later, she said, “David, will you make love to me now, before the rains start again?”
They lay under a stand of yellow poplars, and the leaves rustled47 incessantly48 though no wind could be felt. Under the susurrous trees, their own voices became whispers. She was so thin and so pale, and inside she was so warm and alive; her body rose to meet his and her breasts seemed to lift, to seek his touch, his lips. Her fingers were in his hair, on his back, digging into his flanks, strong now, then relaxed and trembling, then clenched49 into fists that opened spasmodically; and he felt her nails distantly, aware that his back was being clawed, but distantly, distantly. And finally there were only the susurrant leaves and now and then a long, heaving sigh.
“I’ve loved you for more than twenty years, did you realize that?” he said after a long time.
She laughed. “Remember when I broke your arm?”
Later, in the cart again, her voice came from behind him, softly, sadly. “We’re finished, aren’t we, David? You, I, all of us?”
He thought, Walt be damned, promises be damned, secrecy50 be damned. And he told her about the clones developing under the mountain, in the laboratory deep in the cave.
收听单词发音 |
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blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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synthetic
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| adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品 | |
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tug
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| v.用力拖(或拉)；苦干；n.拖；苦干；拖船 | |
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rustle
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| v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声 | |
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overflowed
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| 溢出的 | |
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bug
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| n.虫子；故障；窃听器；vt.纠缠；装窃听器 | |
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shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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tightening
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| 上紧，固定，紧密 | |
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clenching
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的现在分词 ) | |
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crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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treacherous
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| adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的 | |
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reptiles
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| n.爬行动物，爬虫( reptile的名词复数 ) | |
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misty
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| adj.雾蒙蒙的，有雾的 | |
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penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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canopy
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| n.天篷，遮篷 | |
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shrubs
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| 灌木( shrub的名词复数 ) | |
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mosses
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| n. 藓类, 苔藓植物 名词moss的复数形式 | |
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lichens
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| n.地衣( lichen的名词复数 ) | |
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velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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binoculars
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| n.双筒望远镜 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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sparse
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| adj.稀疏的，稀稀落落的，薄的 | |
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frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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rivulets
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| n.小河，小溪( rivulet的名词复数 ) | |
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saturated
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| a.饱和的，充满的 | |
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meager
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| adj.缺乏的，不足的，瘦的 | |
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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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lashing
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| n.鞭打；痛斥；大量；许多v.鞭打( lash的现在分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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translucent
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| adj.半透明的；透明的 | |
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stew
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| n.炖汤，焖，烦恼；v.炖汤，焖，忧虑 | |
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ration
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| n.定量(pl.)给养，口粮；vt.定量供应 | |
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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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evacuating
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| 撤离，疏散( evacuate的现在分词 )； 排空（胃肠），排泄（粪便）； （从危险的地方）撤出，搬出，撤空 | |
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huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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tilt
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| v.(使)倾侧；(使)倾斜；n.倾侧；倾斜 | |
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lashes
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| n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 )；鞭子；突然猛烈的一击；急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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intelligible
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| adj.可理解的，明白易懂的，清楚的 | |
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exhaustion
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| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
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bumpy
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| adj.颠簸不平的，崎岖的 | |
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virulent
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| adj.有毒的，有恶意的，充满敌意的 | |
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reclaimed
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| adj.再生的；翻造的；收复的；回收的v.开拓( reclaim的过去式和过去分词 )；要求收回；从废料中回收（有用的材料）；挽救 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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rustled
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| v.发出沙沙的声音( rustle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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incessantly
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| ad.不停地 | |
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49
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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50
secrecy
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| n.秘密，保密，隐蔽 | |
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