MY inexperience as a writer betrays me, and I wander from the thread of my story.
After I had breakfasted with Montgomery, he took me across the island to see the fumarole and the source of the hot spring into whose scalding waters I had blundered on the previous day. Both of us carried whips and loaded revolvers. While going through a leafy jungle on our road thither1, we heard a rabbit squealing2. We stopped and listened, but we heard no more; and presently we went on our way, and the incident dropped out of our minds. Montgomery called my attention to certain little pink animals with long hind-legs, that went leaping through the undergrowth. He told me they were creatures made of the offspring of the Beast People, that Moreau had invented. He had fancied they might serve for meat, but a rabbit-like habit of devouring3 their young had defeated this intention. I had already encountered some of these creatures,--once during my moonlight flight from the Leopard-man, and once during my pursuit by Moreau on the previous day. By chance, one hopping4 to avoid us leapt into the hole caused by the uprooting5 of a wind-blown tree; before it could extricate6 itself we managed to catch it. It spat7 like a cat, scratched and kicked vigorously with its hind-legs, and made an attempt to bite; but its teeth were too feeble to inflict8 more than a painless pinch. It seemed to me rather a pretty little creature; and as Montgomery stated that it never destroyed the turf by burrowing9, and was very cleanly in its habits, I should imagine it might prove a convenient substitute for the common rabbit in gentlemen's parks.
We also saw on our way the trunk of a tree barked in long strips and splintered deeply. Montgomery called my attention to this. "Not to claw bark of trees, _that_ is the Law," he said. "Much some of them care for it!" It was after this, I think, that we met the Satyr and the Ape-man. The Satyr was a gleam of classical memory on the part of Moreau,--his face ovine in expression, like the coarser Hebrew type; his voice a harsh bleat10, his nether11 extremities12 Satanic. He was gnawing13 the husk of a pod-like fruit as he passed us. Both of them saluted14 Montgomery.
"Hail," said they, "to the Other with the Whip!"
"There's a Third with a Whip now," said Montgomery. "So you'd better mind!"
"Was he not made?" said the Ape-man. "He said--he said he was made."
The Satyr-man looked curiously15 at me. "The Third with the Whip, he that walks weeping into the sea, has a thin white face."
"He has a thin long whip," said Montgomery.
"Yesterday he bled and wept," said the Satyr. "You never bleed nor weep. The Master does not bleed or weep."
"Ollendorffian beggar!" said Montgomery, "you'll bleed and weep if you don't look out!"
"He has five fingers, he is a five-man like me," said the Ape-man.
"Come along, Prendick," said Montgomery, taking my arm; and I went on with him.
The Satyr and the Ape-man stood watching us and making other remarks to each other.
"He says nothing," said the Satyr. "Men have voices."
"Yesterday he asked me of things to eat," said the Ape-man. "He did not know."
Then they spoke16 inaudible things, and I heard the Satyr laughing.
It was on our way back that we came upon the dead rabbit. The red body of the wretched little beast was rent to pieces, many of the ribs18 stripped white, and the backbone19 indisputably gnawed20.
At that Montgomery stopped. "Good God!" said he, stooping down, and picking up some of the crushed vertebrae to examine them more closely. "Good God!" he repeated, "what can this mean?"
"Some carnivore of yours has remembered its old habits," I said after a pause. "This backbone has been bitten through."
He stood staring, with his face white and his lip pulled askew21. "I don't like this," he said slowly.
"I saw something of the same kind," said I, "the first day I came here."
"The devil you did! What was it?"
"A rabbit with its head twisted off."
"The day you came here?"
"The day I came here. In the undergrowth at the back of the enclosure, when I went out in the evening. The head was completely wrung22 off."
He gave a long, low whistle.
"And what is more, I have an idea which of your brutes23 did the thing. It's only a suspicion, you know. Before I came on the rabbit I saw one of your monsters drinking in the stream."
"Sucking his drink?"
"Yes."
"'Not to suck your drink; that is the Law.' Much the brutes care for the Law, eh? when Moreau's not about!"
"It was the brute24 who chased me."
"Of course," said Montgomery; "it's just the way with carnivores. After a kill, they drink. It's the taste of blood, you know.--What was the brute like?" he continued. "Would you know him again?" He glanced about us, standing25 astride over the mess of dead rabbit, his eyes roving among the shadows and screens of greenery, the lurking-places and ambuscades of the forest that bounded us in. "The taste of blood," he said again.
He took out his revolver, examined the cartridges26 in it and replaced it. Then he began to pull at his dropping lip.
"I think I should know the brute again," I said. "I stunned27 him. He ought to have a handsome bruise28 on the forehead of him."
"But then we have to _prove_ that he killed the rabbit," said Montgomery. "I wish I'd never brought the things here."
I should have gone on, but he stayed there thinking over the mangled29 rabbit in a puzzle-headed way. As it was, I went to such a distance that the rabbit's remains30 were hidden.
"Come on!" I said.
Presently he woke up and came towards me. "You see," he said, almost in a whisper, "they are all supposed to have a fixed31 idea against eating anything that runs on land. If some brute has by any accident tasted blood--"
We went on some way in silence. "I wonder what can have happened," he said to himself. Then, after a pause again: "I did a foolish thing the other day. That servant of mine--I showed him how to skin and cook a rabbit. It's odd--I saw him licking his hands--It never occurred to me."
Then: "We must put a stop to this. I must tell Moreau."
He could think of nothing else on our homeward journey.
Moreau took the matter even more seriously than Montgomery, and I need scarcely say that I was affected32 by their evident consternation33.
"We must make an example," said Moreau. "I've no doubt in my own mind that the Leopard-man was the sinner. But how can we prove it? I wish, Montgomery, you had kept your taste for meat in hand, and gone without these exciting novelties. We may find ourselves in a mess yet, through it."
"I was a silly ass," said Montgomery. "But the thing's done now; and you said I might have them, you know."
"We must see to the thing at once," said Moreau. "I suppose if anything should turn up, M'ling can take care of himself?"
"I'm not so sure of M'ling," said Montgomery. "I think I ought to know him."
In the afternoon, Moreau, Montgomery, myself, and M'ling went across the island to the huts in the ravine. We three were armed; M'ling carried the little hatchet34 he used in chopping firewood, and some coils of wire. Moreau had a huge cowherd's horn slung35 over his shoulder.
"You will see a gathering36 of the Beast People," said Montgomery. "It is a pretty sight!"
Moreau said not a word on the way, but the expression of his heavy, white-fringed face was grimly set.
We crossed the ravine down which smoked the stream of hot water, and followed the winding37 pathway through the canebrakes until we reached a wide area covered over with a thick, powdery yellow substance which I believe was sulphur. Above the shoulder of a weedy bank the sea glittered. We came to a kind of shallow natural amphitheatre, and here the four of us halted. Then Moreau sounded the horn, and broke the sleeping stillness of the tropical afternoon. He must have had strong lungs. The hooting38 note rose and rose amidst its echoes, to at last an ear-penetrating intensity39.
"Ah!" said Moreau, letting the curved instrument fall to his side again.
Immediately there was a crashing through the yellow canes40, and a sound of voices from the dense41 green jungle that marked the morass42 through which I had run on the previous day. Then at three or four points on the edge of the sulphurous area appeared the grotesque43 forms of the Beast People hurrying towards us. I could not help a creeping horror, as I perceived first one and then another trot44 out from the trees or reeds and come shambling along over the hot dust. But Moreau and Montgomery stood calmly enough; and, perforce, I stuck beside them.
First to arrive was the Satyr, strangely unreal for all that he cast a shadow and tossed the dust with his hoofs45. After him from the brake came a monstrous46 lout47, a thing of horse and rhinoceros48, chewing a straw as it came; then appeared the Swine-woman and two Wolf-women; then the Fox-bear witch, with her red eyes in her peaked red face, and then others,--all hurrying eagerly. As they came forward they began to cringe towards Moreau and chant, quite regardless of one another, fragments of the latter half of the litany of the Law,--"His is the Hand that wounds; His is the Hand that heals," and so forth49. As soon as they had approached within a distance of perhaps thirty yards they halted, and bowing on knees and elbows began flinging the white dust upon their heads.
Imagine the scene if you can! We three blue-clad men, with our misshapen black-faced attendant, standing in a wide expanse of sunlit yellow dust under the blazing blue sky, and surrounded by this circle of crouching50 and gesticulating monstrosities,--some almost human save in their subtle expression and gestures, some like cripples, some so strangely distorted as to resemble nothing but the denizens51 of our wildest dreams; and, beyond, the reedy lines of a canebrake in one direction, a dense tangle52 of palm-trees on the other, separating us from the ravine with the huts, and to the north the hazy53 horizon of the Pacific Ocean.
"Sixty-two, sixty-three," counted Moreau. "There are four more."
"I do not see the Leopard-man," said I.
Presently Moreau sounded the great horn again, and at the sound of it all the Beast People writhed54 and grovelled55 in the dust. Then, slinking out of the canebrake, stooping near the ground and trying to join the dust-throwing circle behind Moreau's back, came the Leopard-man. The last of the Beast People to arrive was the little Ape-man. The earlier animals, hot and weary with their grovelling56, shot vicious glances at him.
"Cease!" said Moreau, in his firm, loud voice; and the Beast People sat back upon their hams and rested from their worshipping.
"Where is the Sayer of the Law?" said Moreau, and the hairy-grey monster bowed his face in the dust.
"Say the words!" said Moreau.
Forthwith all in the kneeling assembly, swaying from side to side and dashing up the sulphur with their hands,--first the right hand and a puff57 of dust, and then the left,--began once more to chant their strange litany. When they reached, "Not to eat Flesh or Fish, that is the Law," Moreau held up his lank58 white hand.
"Stop!" he cried, and there fell absolute silence upon them all.
I think they all knew and dreaded60 what was coming. I looked round at their strange faces. When I saw their wincing61 attitudes and the furtive62 dread59 in their bright eyes, I wondered that I had ever believed them to be men.
"That Law has been broken!" said Moreau.
"None escape," from the faceless creature with the silvery hair. "None escape," repeated the kneeling circle of Beast People.
"Who is he?" cried Moreau, and looked round at their faces, cracking his whip. I fancied the Hyena-swine looked dejected, so too did the Leopard-man. Moreau stopped, facing this creature, who cringed towards him with the memory and dread of infinite torment64.
"Who is he?" repeated Moreau, in a voice of thunder.
"Evil is he who breaks the Law," chanted the Sayer of the Law.
Moreau looked into the eyes of the Leopard-man, and seemed to be dragging the very soul out of the creature.
"Who breaks the Law--" said Moreau, taking his eyes off his victim, and turning towards us (it seemed to me there was a touch of exultation65 in his voice).
"Goes back to the House of Pain," they all clamoured,--"goes back to the House of Pain, O Master!"
"Back to the House of Pain,--back to the House of Pain," gabbled the Ape-man, as though the idea was sweet to him.
"Do you hear?" said Moreau, turning back to the criminal, "my friend--Hullo!"
For the Leopard-man, released from Moreau's eye, had risen straight from his knees, and now, with eyes aflame and his huge feline66 tusks67 flashing out from under his curling lips, leapt towards his tormentor68. I am convinced that only the madness of unendurable fear could have prompted this attack. The whole circle of threescore monsters seemed to rise about us. I drew my revolver. The two figures collided. I saw Moreau reeling back from the Leopard-man's blow. There was a furious yelling and howling all about us. Every one was moving rapidly. For a moment I thought it was a general revolt. The furious face of the Leopard-man flashed by mine, with M'ling close in pursuit. I saw the yellow eyes of the Hyena-swine blazing with excitement, his attitude as if he were half resolved to attack me. The Satyr, too, glared at me over the Hyena-swine's hunched69 shoulders. I heard the crack of Moreau's pistol, and saw the pink flash dart70 across the tumult71. The whole crowd seemed to swing round in the direction of the glint of fire, and I too was swung round by the magnetism72 of the movement. In another second I was running, one of a tumultuous shouting crowd, in pursuit of the escaping Leopard-man.
That is all I can tell definitely. I saw the Leopard-man strike Moreau, and then everything spun73 about me until I was running headlong. M'ling was ahead, close in pursuit of the fugitive74. Behind, their tongues already lolling out, ran the Wolf-women in great leaping strides. The Swine folk followed, squealing with excitement, and the two Bull-men in their swathings of white. Then came Moreau in a cluster of the Beast People, his wide-brimmed straw hat blown off, his revolver in hand, and his lank white hair streaming out. The Hyena-swine ran beside me, keeping pace with me and glancing furtively75 at me out of his feline eyes, and the others came pattering and shouting behind us.
The Leopard-man went bursting his way through the long canes, which sprang back as he passed, and rattled76 in M'ling's face. We others in the rear found a trampled77 path for us when we reached the brake. The chase lay through the brake for perhaps a quarter of a mile, and then plunged78 into a dense thicket79, which retarded80 our movements exceedingly, though we went through it in a crowd together,--fronds81 flicking82 into our faces, ropy creepers catching83 us under the chin or gripping our ankles, thorny84 plants hooking into and tearing cloth and flesh together.
"He has gone on all-fours through this," panted Moreau, now just ahead of me.
"None escape," said the Wolf-bear, laughing into my face with the exultation of hunting. We burst out again among rocks, and saw the quarry85 ahead running lightly on all-fours and snarling86 at us over his shoulder. At that the Wolf Folk howled with delight. The Thing was still clothed, and at a distance its face still seemed human; but the carriage of its four limbs was feline, and the furtive droop87 of its shoulder was distinctly that of a hunted animal. It leapt over some thorny yellow-flowering bushes, and was hidden. M'ling was halfway88 across the space.
Most of us now had lost the first speed of the chase, and had fallen into a longer and steadier stride. I saw as we traversed the open that the pursuit was now spreading from a column into a line. The Hyena-swine still ran close to me, watching me as it ran, every now and then puckering89 its muzzle90 with a snarling laugh. At the edge of the rocks the Leopard-man, realising that he was making for the projecting cape63 upon which he had stalked me on the night of my arrival, had doubled in the undergrowth; but Montgomery had seen the manoeuvre91, and turned him again. So, panting, tumbling against rocks, torn by brambles, impeded92 by ferns and reeds, I helped to pursue the Leopard-man who had broken the Law, and the Hyena-swine ran, laughing savagely93, by my side. I staggered on, my head reeling and my heart beating against my ribs, tired almost to death, and yet not daring to lose sight of the chase lest I should be left alone with this horrible companion. I staggered on in spite of infinite fatigue94 and the dense heat of the tropical afternoon.
At last the fury of the hunt slackened. We had pinned the wretched brute into a corner of the island. Moreau, whip in hand, marshalled us all into an irregular line, and we advanced now slowly, shouting to one another as we advanced and tightening95 the cordon96 about our victim. He lurked97 noiseless and invisible in the bushes through which I had run from him during that midnight pursuit.
"Steady!" cried Moreau, "steady!" as the ends of the line crept round the tangle of undergrowth and hemmed98 the brute in.
"Ware99 a rush!" came the voice of Montgomery from beyond the thicket.
I was on the slope above the bushes; Montgomery and Moreau beat along the beach beneath. Slowly we pushed in among the fretted100 network of branches and leaves. The quarry was silent.
"Back to the House of Pain, the House of Pain, the House of Pain!" yelped101 the voice of the Ape-man, some twenty yards to the right.
When I heard that, I forgave the poor wretch17 all the fear he had inspired in me. I heard the twigs102 snap and the boughs103 swish aside before the heavy tread of the Horse-rhinoceros upon my right. Then suddenly through a polygon104 of green, in the half darkness under the luxuriant growth, I saw the creature we were hunting. I halted. He was crouched105 together into the smallest possible compass, his luminous106 green eyes turned over his shoulder regarding me.
It may seem a strange contradiction in me,--I cannot explain the fact,--but now, seeing the creature there in a perfectly107 animal attitude, with the light gleaming in its eyes and its imperfectly human face distorted with terror, I realised again the fact of its humanity. In another moment other of its pursuers would see it, and it would be overpowered and captured, to experience once more the horrible tortures of the enclosure. Abruptly108 I slipped out my revolver, aimed between its terror-struck eyes, and fired. As I did so, the Hyena-swine saw the Thing, and flung itself upon it with an eager cry, thrusting thirsty teeth into its neck. All about me the green masses of the thicket were swaying and cracking as the Beast People came rushing together. One face and then another appeared.
"Don't kill it, Prendick!" cried Moreau. "Don't kill it!" and I saw him stooping as he pushed through under the fronds of the big ferns.
In another moment he had beaten off the Hyena-swine with the handle of his whip, and he and Montgomery were keeping away the excited carnivorous Beast People, and particularly M'ling, from the still quivering body. The hairy-grey Thing came sniffing109 at the corpse110 under my arm. The other animals, in their animal ardour, jostled me to get a nearer view.
"Confound you, Prendick!" said Moreau. "I wanted him."
"I'm sorry," said I, though I was not. "It was the impulse of the moment." I felt sick with exertion111 and excitement. Turning, I pushed my way out of the crowding Beast People and went on alone up the slope towards the higher part of the headland. Under the shouted directions of Moreau I heard the three white-swathed Bull-men begin dragging the victim down towards the water.
It was easy now for me to be alone. The Beast People manifested a quite human curiosity about the dead body, and followed it in a thick knot, sniffing and growling112 at it as the Bull-men dragged it down the beach. I went to the headland and watched the bull-men, black against the evening sky as they carried the weighted dead body out to sea; and like a wave across my mind came the realisation of the unspeakable aimlessness of things upon the island. Upon the beach among the rocks beneath me were the Ape-man, the Hyena-swine, and several other of the Beast People, standing about Montgomery and Moreau. They were all still intensely excited, and all overflowing113 with noisy expressions of their loyalty114 to the Law; yet I felt an absolute assurance in my own mind that the Hyena-swine was implicated115 in the rabbit-killing. A strange persuasion116 came upon me, that, save for the grossness of the line, the grotesqueness117 of the forms, I had here before me the whole balance of human life in miniature, the whole interplay of instinct, reason, and fate in its simplest form. The Leopard-man had happened to go under: that was all the difference. Poor brute!
Poor brutes! I began to see the viler118 aspect of Moreau's cruelty. I had not thought before of the pain and trouble that came to these poor victims after they had passed from Moreau's hands. I had shivered only at the days of actual torment in the enclosure. But now that seemed to me the lesser119 part. Before, they had been beasts, their instincts fitly adapted to their surroundings, and happy as living things may be. Now they stumbled in the shackles120 of humanity, lived in a fear that never died, fretted by a law they could not understand; their mock-human existence, begun in an agony, was one long internal struggle, one long dread of Moreau--and for what? It was the wantonness of it that stirred me.
Had Moreau had any intelligible121 object, I could have sympathised at least a little with him. I am not so squeamish about pain as that. I could have forgiven him a little even, had his motive122 been only hate. But he was so irresponsible, so utterly123 careless! His curiosity, his mad, aimless investigations124, drove him on; and the Things were thrown out to live a year or so, to struggle and blunder and suffer, and at last to die painfully. They were wretched in themselves; the old animal hate moved them to trouble one another; the Law held them back from a brief hot struggle and a decisive end to their natural animosities.
In those days my fear of the Beast People went the way of my personal fear for Moreau. I fell indeed into a morbid125 state, deep and enduring, and alien to fear, which has left permanent scars upon my mind. I must confess that I lost faith in the sanity126 of the world when I saw it suffering the painful disorder127 of this island. A blind Fate, a vast pitiless Mechanism128, seemed to cut and shape the fabric129 of existence and I, Moreau (by his passion for research), Montgomery (by his passion for drink), the Beast People with their instincts and mental restrictions130, were torn and crushed, ruthlessly, inevitably131, amid the infinite complexity132 of its incessant133 wheels. But this condition did not come all at once: I think indeed that I anticipate a little in speaking of it now.
1 thither | |
adv.向那里;adj.在那边的,对岸的 | |
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2 squealing | |
v.长声尖叫,用长而尖锐的声音说( squeal的现在分词 ) | |
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3 devouring | |
吞没( devour的现在分词 ); 耗尽; 津津有味地看; 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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4 hopping | |
n. 跳跃 动词hop的现在分词形式 | |
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5 uprooting | |
n.倒根,挖除伐根v.把(某物)连根拔起( uproot的现在分词 );根除;赶走;把…赶出家园 | |
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6 extricate | |
v.拯救,救出;解脱 | |
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7 spat | |
n.口角,掌击;v.发出呼噜呼噜声 | |
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8 inflict | |
vt.(on)把…强加给,使遭受,使承担 | |
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9 burrowing | |
v.挖掘(洞穴),挖洞( burrow的现在分词 );翻寻 | |
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10 bleat | |
v.咩咩叫,(讲)废话,哭诉;n.咩咩叫,废话,哭诉 | |
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11 nether | |
adj.下部的,下面的;n.阴间;下层社会 | |
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12 extremities | |
n.端点( extremity的名词复数 );尽头;手和足;极窘迫的境地 | |
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13 gnawing | |
a.痛苦的,折磨人的 | |
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14 saluted | |
v.欢迎,致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 );赞扬,赞颂 | |
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15 curiously | |
adv.有求知欲地;好问地;奇特地 | |
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16 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
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17 wretch | |
n.可怜的人,不幸的人;卑鄙的人 | |
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18 ribs | |
n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 );(船或屋顶等的)肋拱;肋骨状的东西;(织物的)凸条花纹 | |
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19 backbone | |
n.脊骨,脊柱,骨干;刚毅,骨气 | |
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20 gnawed | |
咬( gnaw的过去式和过去分词 ); (长时间) 折磨某人; (使)苦恼; (长时间)危害某事物 | |
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21 askew | |
adv.斜地;adj.歪斜的 | |
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22 wrung | |
绞( wring的过去式和过去分词 ); 握紧(尤指别人的手); 把(湿衣服)拧干; 绞掉(水) | |
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23 brutes | |
兽( brute的名词复数 ); 畜生; 残酷无情的人; 兽性 | |
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24 brute | |
n.野兽,兽性 | |
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25 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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26 cartridges | |
子弹( cartridge的名词复数 ); (打印机的)墨盒; 录音带盒; (唱机的)唱头 | |
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27 stunned | |
adj. 震惊的,惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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28 bruise | |
n.青肿,挫伤;伤痕;vt.打青;挫伤 | |
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29 mangled | |
vt.乱砍(mangle的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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30 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
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31 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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32 affected | |
adj.不自然的,假装的 | |
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33 consternation | |
n.大为吃惊,惊骇 | |
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34 hatchet | |
n.短柄小斧;v.扼杀 | |
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35 slung | |
抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 ); 吊挂; 遣送; 押往 | |
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36 gathering | |
n.集会,聚会,聚集 | |
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37 winding | |
n.绕,缠,绕组,线圈 | |
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38 hooting | |
(使)作汽笛声响,作汽车喇叭声( hoot的现在分词 ); 倒好儿; 倒彩 | |
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39 intensity | |
n.强烈,剧烈;强度;烈度 | |
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40 canes | |
n.(某些植物,如竹或甘蔗的)茎( cane的名词复数 );(用于制作家具等的)竹竿;竹杖 | |
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41 dense | |
a.密集的,稠密的,浓密的;密度大的 | |
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42 morass | |
n.沼泽,困境 | |
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43 grotesque | |
adj.怪诞的,丑陋的;n.怪诞的图案,怪人(物) | |
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44 trot | |
n.疾走,慢跑;n.老太婆;现成译本;(复数)trots:腹泻(与the 连用);v.小跑,快步走,赶紧 | |
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45 hoofs | |
n.(兽的)蹄,马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.(兽的)蹄,马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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46 monstrous | |
adj.巨大的;恐怖的;可耻的,丢脸的 | |
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47 lout | |
n.粗鄙的人;举止粗鲁的人 | |
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48 rhinoceros | |
n.犀牛 | |
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49 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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50 crouching | |
v.屈膝,蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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51 denizens | |
n.居民,住户( denizen的名词复数 ) | |
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52 tangle | |
n.纠缠;缠结;混乱;v.(使)缠绕;变乱 | |
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53 hazy | |
adj.有薄雾的,朦胧的;不肯定的,模糊的 | |
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54 writhed | |
(因极度痛苦而)扭动或翻滚( writhe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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55 grovelled | |
v.卑躬屈节,奴颜婢膝( grovel的过去式和过去分词 );趴 | |
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56 grovelling | |
adj.卑下的,奴颜婢膝的v.卑躬屈节,奴颜婢膝( grovel的现在分词 );趴 | |
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57 puff | |
n.一口(气);一阵(风);v.喷气,喘气 | |
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58 lank | |
adj.瘦削的;稀疏的 | |
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59 dread | |
vt.担忧,忧虑;惧怕,不敢;n.担忧,畏惧 | |
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60 dreaded | |
adj.令人畏惧的;害怕的v.害怕,恐惧,担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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61 wincing | |
赶紧避开,畏缩( wince的现在分词 ) | |
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62 furtive | |
adj.鬼鬼崇崇的,偷偷摸摸的 | |
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63 cape | |
n.海角,岬;披肩,短披风 | |
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64 torment | |
n.折磨;令人痛苦的东西(人);vt.折磨;纠缠 | |
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65 exultation | |
n.狂喜,得意 | |
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66 feline | |
adj.猫科的 | |
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67 tusks | |
n.(象等动物的)长牙( tusk的名词复数 );獠牙;尖形物;尖头 | |
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68 tormentor | |
n. 使苦痛之人, 使苦恼之物, 侧幕 =tormenter | |
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69 hunched | |
(常指因寒冷、生病或愁苦)耸肩弓身的,伏首前倾的 | |
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70 dart | |
v.猛冲,投掷;n.飞镖,猛冲 | |
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71 tumult | |
n.喧哗;激动,混乱;吵闹 | |
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72 magnetism | |
n.磁性,吸引力,磁学 | |
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73 spun | |
v.纺,杜撰,急转身 | |
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74 fugitive | |
adj.逃亡的,易逝的;n.逃犯,逃亡者 | |
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75 furtively | |
adv. 偷偷地, 暗中地 | |
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76 rattled | |
慌乱的,恼火的 | |
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77 trampled | |
踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 ); 践踏; 无视; 侵犯 | |
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78 plunged | |
v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 );暴跌;骤降;突降 | |
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79 thicket | |
n.灌木丛,树林 | |
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80 retarded | |
a.智力迟钝的,智力发育迟缓的 | |
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81 fronds | |
n.蕨类或棕榈类植物的叶子( frond的名词复数 ) | |
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82 flicking | |
(尤指用手指或手快速地)轻击( flick的现在分词 ); (用…)轻挥; (快速地)按开关; 向…笑了一下(或瞥了一眼等) | |
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83 catching | |
adj.易传染的,有魅力的,迷人的,接住 | |
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84 thorny | |
adj.多刺的,棘手的 | |
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85 quarry | |
n.采石场;v.采石;费力地找 | |
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86 snarling | |
v.(指狗)吠,嗥叫, (人)咆哮( snarl的现在分词 );咆哮着说,厉声地说 | |
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87 droop | |
v.低垂,下垂;凋萎,萎靡 | |
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88 halfway | |
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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89 puckering | |
v.(使某物)起褶子或皱纹( pucker的现在分词 );小褶纹;小褶皱 | |
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90 muzzle | |
n.鼻口部;口套;枪(炮)口;vt.使缄默 | |
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91 manoeuvre | |
n.策略,调动;v.用策略,调动 | |
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92 impeded | |
阻碍,妨碍,阻止( impede的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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93 savagely | |
adv. 野蛮地,残酷地 | |
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94 fatigue | |
n.疲劳,劳累 | |
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95 tightening | |
上紧,固定,紧密 | |
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96 cordon | |
n.警戒线,哨兵线 | |
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97 lurked | |
vi.潜伏,埋伏(lurk的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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98 hemmed | |
缝…的褶边( hem的过去式和过去分词 ); 包围 | |
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99 ware | |
n.(常用复数)商品,货物 | |
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100 fretted | |
焦躁的,附有弦马的,腐蚀的 | |
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101 yelped | |
v.发出短而尖的叫声( yelp的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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102 twigs | |
细枝,嫩枝( twig的名词复数 ) | |
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103 boughs | |
大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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104 polygon | |
n.多边形;多角形 | |
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105 crouched | |
v.屈膝,蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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106 luminous | |
adj.发光的,发亮的;光明的;明白易懂的;有启发的 | |
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107 perfectly | |
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 | |
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108 abruptly | |
adv.突然地,出其不意地 | |
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109 sniffing | |
n.探查法v.以鼻吸气,嗅,闻( sniff的现在分词 );抽鼻子(尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气);抱怨,不以为然地说 | |
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110 corpse | |
n.尸体,死尸 | |
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111 exertion | |
n.尽力,努力 | |
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112 growling | |
n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼 | |
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113 overflowing | |
n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的,充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式 | |
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114 loyalty | |
n.忠诚,忠心 | |
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115 implicated | |
adj.密切关联的;牵涉其中的 | |
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116 persuasion | |
n.劝说;说服;持有某种信仰的宗派 | |
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117 grotesqueness | |
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118 viler | |
adj.卑鄙的( vile的比较级 );可耻的;极坏的;非常讨厌的 | |
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119 lesser | |
adj.次要的,较小的;adv.较小地,较少地 | |
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120 shackles | |
手铐( shackle的名词复数 ); 脚镣; 束缚; 羁绊 | |
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121 intelligible | |
adj.可理解的,明白易懂的,清楚的 | |
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122 motive | |
n.动机,目的;adv.发动的,运动的 | |
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123 utterly | |
adv.完全地,绝对地 | |
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124 investigations | |
(正式的)调查( investigation的名词复数 ); 侦查; 科学研究; 学术研究 | |
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125 morbid | |
adj.病的;致病的;病态的;可怕的 | |
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126 sanity | |
n.心智健全,神智正常,判断正确 | |
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127 disorder | |
n.紊乱,混乱;骚动,骚乱;疾病,失调 | |
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128 mechanism | |
n.机械装置;机构,结构 | |
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129 fabric | |
n.织物,织品,布;构造,结构,组织 | |
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130 restrictions | |
约束( restriction的名词复数 ); 管制; 制约因素; 带限制性的条件(或规则) | |
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131 inevitably | |
adv.不可避免地;必然发生地 | |
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132 complexity | |
n.复杂(性),复杂的事物 | |
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133 incessant | |
adj.不停的,连续的 | |
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