Miellyn was shaking when she set her feet into the patterned stones of the street-shrine.
"Scared, Miellyn?"
"I know Evarin. You don't. But"—her mouth twitched5 in a pitiful attempt at the old mischief—"when I am with a great and valorous Earthman...."
"Cut it out," I growled6, and she giggled7. "You'll have to stand closer to me. The transmitters are meant only for one person."
I stooped and put my arms round her. "Like this?"
"Like this," she whispered, pressing herself against me. A staggering whirl of dizzy darkness swung round my head. The street vanished. After an instant the floor steadied and we stepped into the terminal room in the Mastershrine, under a skylight dim with the last red slant8 of sunset. Distant hammering noises rang in my ears.
Miellyn whispered, "Evarin's not here, but he might jump through at any second." I wasn't listening.
"Where is this place, Miellyn? Where on the planet?"
"No one knows but Evarin, I think. There are no doors. Anyone who goes in or out, jumps through the transmitter." She pointed9. "The scanning device is in there, we'll have to go through the workroom."
She was patting her crushed robes into place, smoothing her hair with fastidious fingers. "I don't suppose you have a comb? I've no time to go to my own—"
I'd known she was a vain and pampered10 brat11, but this passed all reason, and I said so, exploding at her. She looked at me as if I wasn't quite intelligent. "The Little Ones, my friend, notice things. You are quite enough of a roughneck, but if I, Nebran's priestess, walk through their workroom all blown about and looking like the tag end of an orgy in Ardcarran...."
Abashed12, I fished in a pocket and offered her a somewhat battered13 pocket comb. She looked at it distastefully but used it to good purpose, smoothing her hair swiftly, rearranging her loose-pinned robe so that the worst of the tears and stains were covered, and giving me, meanwhile, an artless and rather tempting14 view of some delicious curvature. She replaced the starred tiara on her ringlets and finally opened the door of the workroom and we walked through.[101]
Not for years had I known that particular sensation—thousands of eyes, boring holes in the center of my back somewhere. There were eyes; the round inhuman15 orbs16 of the dwarf17 chaks, the faceted18 stare of the prism eyes of the Toys. The workroom wasn't a hundred feet long, but it felt longer than a good many miles I've walked. Here and there the dwarfs19 murmured an obsequious20 greeting to Miellyn, and she made some lighthearted answer.
She had warned me to walk as if I had every right to be there, and I strode after her as if we were simply going to an agreed-on meeting in the next room. But I was drenched21 with cold sweat before the farther door finally closed, safe and blessedly opaque22, behind us. Miellyn, too, was shaking with fright, and I put a hand on her arm.
"Steady, kid. Where's the scanner?"
She touched the panel I'd seen. "I'm not sure I can focus it accurately24. Evarin never let me touch it."
This was a fine time to tell me that. "How does it work?"
"It's an adaptation of the transmitter principle. It lets you see anywhere, but without jumping. It uses a tracer mechanism25 like the one in the Toys. If Rakhal's electrical-impulse pattern were on file—just a minute." She fished out the bird Toy and unwrapped it. "Here's how we find out which of you this is keyed to."
I looked at the fledgling bird, lying innocently in her palm, as she pushed aside the feathers, exposing a tiny crystal. "If it's keyed to you, you'll see yourself in this, as if the screen were a mirror. If it's keyed to Rakhal...."
She touched the crystal to the surface of the screen. Little flickers26 of snow wavered and danced. Then, abruptly27, we were looking down from a height at the lean back of a man in a leather jacket. Slowly he turned. I saw the familiar set of his shoulders, saw the back of his head come into an aquiline28 profile, and the profile turn slowly into a scarred, seared mask more hideously29 claw-marked and disfigured than my own.
"Rakhal," I muttered. "Shift the focus if you can, Miellyn, get a look out the window or something. Charin's a big city. If we could get a look at a landmark31—"
Rakhal was talking soundlessly, his lips moving as he spoke32 to someone out of sight range of the scanning device.[102] Abruptly Miellyn said, "There." She had caught a window in the sight field of the pane23. I could see a high pylon33 and two of three uprights that looked like a bridge, just outside. I said, "It's the Bridge of Summer Snows. I know where he is now. Turn it off, Miellyn, we can find him—" I was turning away when Miellyn screamed.
"Look!"
Rakhal had turned his back on the scanner and for the first time I could see who he was talking to. A hunched34, catlike shoulder twisted; a sinuous35 neck, a high-held head that was not quite human.
"Evarin!" I swore. "That does it. He knows now that I'm not Rakhal, if he didn't know it all along! Come on, girl, we're getting out of here!"
This time there was no pretense36 of normality as we dashed through the workroom. Fingers dropped from half-completed Toys as they stared after us. Toys! I wanted to stop and smash them all. But if we hurried, we might find Rakhal. And, with luck, we would find Evarin with him.
And then I was going to bang their heads together. I'd reached a saturation37 point on adventure. I'd had all I wanted. I realized that I'd been up all night, that I was exhausted38. I wanted to murder and smash, and wanted to fall down somewhere and go to sleep, all at once. We banged the workroom door shut and I took time to shove a heavy divan39 against it, blockading it.
Miellyn stared. "The Little Ones would not harm me," she began. "I am sacrosanct40."
I wasn't sure. I had a notion her status had changed plenty, beginning when I saw her chained and drugged, and standing41 under the hovering42 horror. But I didn't say so.
"Maybe. But there's nothing sacred about me!"
She was already inside the recess43 where the Toad44 God squatted45. "There is a street-shrine just beyond the Bridge of Summer Snows. We can jump directly there." Abruptly she froze in my arms, with a convulsive shudder46.
"Evarin! Hold me, tight—he's jumping in! Quick!"
Space reeled round us, and then....
Can you split instantaneousness into fragments? It didn't make sense, but so help me, that's what happened. And[103] everything that happened, occurred within less than a second. We landed in the street-shrine. I could see the pylon and the bridge and the rising sun of Charin. Then there was the giddy internal wrenching48, a blast of icy air whistled round us, and we were gazing out at the Polar mountains, ringed in their eternal snow.
Miellyn clutched at me. "Pray! Pray to the Gods of Terra, if there are any!"
She clung so violently that it felt as if her small body was trying to push through me and come out the other side. I hung on tight. Miellyn knew what she was doing in the transmitter; I was just along for the ride and I didn't relish49 the thought of being dropped off somewhere in that black limbo50 we traversed.
We jumped again, the sickness of disorientation forcing a moan from the girl, and darkness shivered round us. I looked on an unfamiliar51 street of black night and dust-bleared stars. She whimpered, "Evarin knows what I'm doing. He's jumping us all over the planet. He can work the controls with his mind. Psychokinetics—I can do it a little, but I never dared—oh, hang on tight!"
Then began one of the most amazing duels52 ever fought. Miellyn would make some tiny movement, and we would be falling, blind and dizzy, through blackness. Halfway53 through the giddiness, a new direction would wrench47 us and we would be thrust elsewhere, and look out into a new street.
One instant I smelled hot coffee from the spaceport cafe near the Kharsa. An instant later it was blinding noon, with crimson54 fronds55 waving above us and a dazzle of water. We flicked56 in and out of the salty air of Shainsa, glimpsed flowers on a Daillon street, moonlight, noon, red twilight57 flickered58 and went, shot through with the terrible giddiness of hyperspace.
Then suddenly I caught a second glimpse of the bridge and the pylon; a moment's oversight59 had landed us for an instant in Charin. The blackness started to reel down, but my reflexes are fast and I made one swift, scrabbling step forward. We lurched, sprawled60, locked together, on the stones of the Bridge of Summer Snows. Battered, and[104] bruised61, and bloody62, we were still alive, and where we wanted to be.
I lifted Miellyn to her feet. Her eyes were dazed with pain. The ground swayed and rocked under our feet as we fled along the bridge. At the far end, I looked up at the pylon. Judging from its angle, we couldn't be more than a hundred feet from the window through which I'd seen that landmark in the scanner. In this street there was a wineshop, a silk market, and a small private house. I walked up and banged on the door.
Silence. I knocked again and had time to wonder if we'd find ourselves explaining things to some uninvolved stranger. Then I heard a child's high voice, and a deep familiar voice hushing it. The door opened, just a crack, to reveal part of a scarred face.
"I thought it might be you, Cargill. You've taken at least three days longer than I figured, getting here. Come on in," said Rakhal Sensar.
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1
subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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2
curbs
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| v.限制，克制，抑制( curb的第三人称单数 ) | |
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3
gutters
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| （路边）排水沟( gutter的名词复数 )； 阴沟； （屋顶的）天沟； 贫贱的境地 | |
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4
malice
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| n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋 | |
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5
twitched
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| vt.& vi.（使）抽动，（使）颤动（twitch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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6
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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7
giggled
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| v.咯咯地笑( giggle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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slant
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| v.倾斜，倾向性地编写或报道；n.斜面，倾向 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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pampered
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| adj.饮食过量的，饮食奢侈的v.纵容，宠，娇养( pamper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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11
brat
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| n.孩子；顽童 | |
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12
abashed
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| adj.窘迫的，尴尬的v.使羞愧，使局促，使窘迫( abash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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13
battered
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| adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损 | |
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14
tempting
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| a.诱人的, 吸引人的 | |
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inhuman
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| adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的 | |
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orbs
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| abbr.off-reservation boarding school 在校寄宿学校n.球，天体，圆形物( orb的名词复数 ) | |
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17
dwarf
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| n.矮子，侏儒，矮小的动植物；vt.使…矮小 | |
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18
faceted
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| adj. 有小面的，分成块面的 | |
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19
dwarfs
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| n.侏儒，矮子（dwarf的复数形式）vt.（使）显得矮小（dwarf的第三人称单数形式） | |
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20
obsequious
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| adj.谄媚的，奉承的，顺从的 | |
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21
drenched
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| adj.湿透的；充满的v.使湿透( drench的过去式和过去分词 )；在某人（某物）上大量使用（某液体） | |
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22
opaque
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| adj.不透光的；不反光的，不传导的；晦涩的 | |
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23
pane
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| n.窗格玻璃，长方块 | |
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24
accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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25
mechanism
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| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
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26
flickers
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| 电影制片业； （通常指灯光）闪烁，摇曳( flicker的名词复数 ) | |
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27
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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28
aquiline
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| adj.钩状的，鹰的 | |
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29
hideously
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| adv.可怕地，非常讨厌地 | |
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30
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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31
landmark
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| n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标 | |
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32
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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33
pylon
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| n.高压电线架，桥塔 | |
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34
hunched
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| （常指因寒冷、生病或愁苦）耸肩弓身的，伏首前倾的 | |
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35
sinuous
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| adj.蜿蜒的，迂回的 | |
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36
pretense
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| n.矫饰，做作，借口 | |
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37
saturation
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| n.饱和(状态)；浸透 | |
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38
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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39
divan
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| n.长沙发；（波斯或其他东方诗人的）诗集 | |
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40
sacrosanct
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| adj.神圣不可侵犯的 | |
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41
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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42
hovering
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| 鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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43
recess
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| n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处） | |
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44
toad
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| n.蟾蜍，癞蛤蟆 | |
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45
squatted
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| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的过去式和过去分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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46
shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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47
wrench
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| v.猛拧；挣脱；使扭伤；n.扳手；痛苦，难受 | |
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48
wrenching
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| n.修截苗根，苗木铲根（铲根时苗木不起土或部分起土）v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的现在分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛 | |
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49
relish
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| n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味 | |
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50
limbo
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| n.地狱的边缘；监狱 | |
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51
unfamiliar
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| adj.陌生的，不熟悉的 | |
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52
duels
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| n.两男子的决斗( duel的名词复数 )；竞争，斗争 | |
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53
halfway
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| adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途 | |
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54
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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55
fronds
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| n.蕨类或棕榈类植物的叶子( frond的名词复数 ) | |
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56
flicked
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| （尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的过去式和过去分词 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等） | |
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57
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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58
flickered
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| （通常指灯光）闪烁，摇曳( flicker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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59
oversight
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| n.勘漏，失察，疏忽 | |
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60
sprawled
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| v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的过去式和过去分词)；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
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61
bruised
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| [医]青肿的，瘀紫的 | |
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62
bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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