I was two weeks late meeting Remi Bonc?ur. The bus trip from Den1- ver to Frisco was uneventful except that my whole soul leaped to it the nearer we got to Frisco. Cheyenne again, in the afternoon this time, and then west over the range; crossing the Divide at midnight at Creston, arriving at Salt Lake City at dawn--a city of sprinklers, the least likely place for Dean to have been born; then out to Nevada in the hot sun, Reno by nightfall, its twinkling Chinese streets; then up the Sierra Ne- vada, pines, stars, mountain lodges2 signifying Frisco romances--a little girl in the back seat, crying to her mother, "Mama when do we get home to Truckee?" And Truckee itself, homey Truckee, and then down the hill to the flats of Sacramento. I suddenly realized I was in Califor- nia. Warm, palmy air--air you can kiss--and palms. Along the storied Sacramento River on a superhighway; into the hills again; up, down; and suddenly the vast expanse of bay (it was just before dawn) with the sleepy lights of Frisco festooned across. Over the Oakland Bay Bridge I slept soundly for the first time since Denver; so that I was rudely jolted3 in the bus station at Market and Fourth into the memory of the fact that I was three thousand two hundred miles from my aunt's house in Paterson, New Jersey4. I wandered out like a haggard ghost, and there she was, Frisco--long, bleak streets with trolleywires all shrouded5 in fog and whiteness. I stumbled around a few blocks. Weird7 bums8 (Mission and Third) asked me for dimes in the dawn. I heard music somewhere. "Boy, am I going to dig all this later! But now I've got to find Remi Bonc?ur."
Mill City, where Remi lived, was a collection of shacks10 in a val- ley, housing-project shacks built for Navy Yard workers during the war; it was in a canyon11, and a deep one, treed profusedly on all slopes. There were special stores and barber shops and tailor shops for the people of the project. It was, so they say, the only community in Amer- ica where whites and Negroes lived together voluntarily; and that was so, and so wild and joyous13 a place I've never seen since. On the door of Remi's shack9 was the note he had pinned up there three weeks ago.
If nobody's home climb in through the window. Signed,I climbed in and there he was, sleeping with his girl, Lee Ann-- on a bed he stole from a merchant ship, as he told me later; imagine the deck engineer of a merchant ship sneaking15 over the side in the middle of the night with a bed, and heaving and straining at the oars16 to shore. This barely explains Remi Bonc?ur.
The reason I'm going into everything that happened in San Fran is because it ties up with everything else all the way down the line. Remi Bonc?ur and I met at prep school years ago; but the thing that really linked us together was my former wife. Remi found her first. He came into my dorm room one night and said, "Paradise, get up, the old maestro has come to see you." I got up and dropped some pennies on the floor when I put my pants on. It was four in the afternoon; I used to sleep all the time in college. "All right, all right, don't drop your gold all over the place. I have found the gonest little girl in the world and I am going straight to the Lion's Den with her tonight." And he dragged me to meet her. A week later she was going with me. Remi was a tall, dark, handsome Frenchman (he looked like a kind of Marseille black- marketeer of twenty); because he was French he had to talk in jazz American; his English was perfect, his French was perfect. He liked to dress sharp, slightly on the collegiate side, and go out with fancy blondes and spend a lot of money. It's not that he ever blamed me for taking off with his girl; it was only a point that always tied us together; that guy was loyal to me and had real affection for me, and God knows why.
When I found him in Mill City that morning he had fallen on the beat and evil days that come to young guys in their middle twen- ties. He was hanging around waiting for a ship, and to earn his living he had a job as a special guard in the barracks across the canyon. His girl Lee Ann had a bad tongue and gave him a calldown every day. They spent all week saving pennies and went out Saturdays to spend fifty bucks19 in three hours. Remi wore shorts around the shack, with a crazy Army cap on his head. Lee Ann went around with her hair up in pincurls. Thus attired20, they yelled at each other all week. I never saw so many snarls21 in all my born days. But on Saturday night, smiling gra- ciously at each other, they took off like a pair of successful Hollywood characters and went on the town.
Remi woke up and saw me come in the window. His great laugh, one of the greatest laughs in the world, dinned in my ear. "Aaaaah Paradise, he comes in through the window, he follows in- structions to a T. Where have you been, you're two weeks late!" He slapped me on the back, he punched Lee Ann in the ribs22, he leaned on the wall and laughed and cried, he pounded the table so you could hear it everywhere in Mill City, and that great long "Aaaaah" re- sounded around the canyon. "Paradise!" he screamed. "The one and only indispensable Paradise."
I had just come through the little fishing village of Sausalito,and the first thing I said was, "There must be a lot of Italians in Sausali- to."
"There must be a lot of Italians in Sausalito!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. "Aaaaah!" He pounded himself, he fell on the bed, he almost rolled on the floor. "Did you hear what Paradise said? There must be a lot of Italians in Sausalito? Aaaah-haaa! Hoo! Wow! Wheel" He got red as a beet23, laughing. "Oh, you slay24 me, Paradise, you're the funniest man in the world, and here you are, you finally got here, he came in through the window, you saw him, Lee Ann, he followed in- structions and came in through the window. Aaah! Hooo!"
The strange thing was that next door to Remi lived a Negro called Mr. Snow whose laugh, I swear on the Bible, was positively25 and finally the one greatest laugh in all this world. This Mr. Snow began his laugh from the supper table when his old wife said something casual; he got up, apparently choking, leaned on the wall, looked up to hea- ven, and started; he staggered through the door, leaning on neighbors' walls; he was drunk with it, he reeled throughout Mill City in the sha- dows, raising his whooping triumphant26 call to the demon27 god that must have prodded28 him to do it. I don't know if he ever finished sup- per. There's a possibility that Remi, without knowing it, was picking up from this amazing man, Mr. Snow. And though Remi was having worklife problems and bad lovelife with a sharp-tongued woman, he at least had learned to laugh almost better than anyone in the world, and I saw all the fun we were going to have in Frisco.
The pitch was this: Remi slept with Lee Ann in the bed across the room, and I slept in the cot by the window. I was not to touch Lee Ann. Remi at once made a speech concerning this. "I don't want to find you two playing around when you think I'm not looking. You can't teach the old maestro a new tune29. This is an original saying of mine." I looked at Lee Ann. She was a fetching hunk, a honey-colored creature, but there was hate in her eyes for both of us. Her ambition was to mar- ry a rich man. She came from a small town in Oregon. She rued30 the day she ever took up with Remi. On one of his big showoff weekends he spent a hundred dollars on her and she thought she'd found an heir. Instead she was hung-up in this shack, and for lack of anything else she had to stay there. She had a job in Frisco; she had to take the Grey- hound bus at the crossroads and go in every day. She never forgave Remi for it.
I was to stay in the shack and write a shining original story for a Hollywood studio. Remi was going to fly down in a stratosphere liner with this harp18 under his arm and make us all rich; Lee Ann was to go with him; he was going to introduce her to his buddy's father, who was a famous director and an intimate of W. C. Fields. So the first week I stayed in the shack in Mill City, writing furiously at some gloomy tale about New York that I thought would satisfy a Hollywood director, and the trouble with it was that it was too sad. Remi could barely read it, and so he just carried it down to Hollywood a few weeks later. Lee Ann was too bored and hated us too much to bother reading it. I spent countless31 rainy hours drinking coffee and scribbling32. Finally I told Re- mi it wouldn't do; I wanted a job; I had to depend on them for ciga- rettes. A shadow of disappointment crossed Remi's brow--he was al- ways being disappointed about the funniest things. He had a heart of gold.
He arranged to get me the same kind of job he had, as a guard in the barracks. I went through the necessary routine, and to my sur- prise the bastards34 hired me. I was sworn in by the local police chief, given a badge, a club, and now I was a special policeman. I wondered what Dean and Carlo and Old Bull Lee would say about this. I had to have navy-blue trousers to go with my black jacket and cop cap; for the first two weeks I had to wear Remi's trousers; since he was so tall, and had a potbelly from eating voracious meals out of boredom37, I went flapping around like Charlie Chaplin to my first night of work. Remi gave me a flashlight and his .32 automatic.
"Where'd you get this gun?" I asked.
"On my way to the Coast last summer I jumped off the train at North Platte, Nebraska, to stretch my legs, and what did I see in the window but this unique little gun, which I promptly38 bought and barely made the train."
And I tried to tell him what North Platte meant to me, buying
the whisky with the boys, and he slapped me on the back and said I was the funniest man in the world.
With the flashlight to illuminate39 my way, I climbed the steep walls of the south canyon, got up on the highway streaming with cars Frisco-bound in the night, scrambled40 down the other side, almost fall- ing, and came to the bottom of a ravine where a little farmhouse41 stood near a creek42 and where every blessed night the same dog barked at me. Then it was a fast walk along a silvery, dusty road beneath inky trees of California--a road like in iThe Mark of Zorroi and a road like all the roads you see in Western B movies. I used to take out my gun and play cowboys in the dark. Then I climbed another hill and there were the barracks. These barracks were for the temporary quartering of overseas construction workers. The men who came through stayed there, waiting for their ship. Most of them were bound for Okinawa. Most of them were running away from something--usually the law. There were tough groups from Alabama, shifty men from New York,all kinds from all over. And, knowing full well how horrible it would be to work a full year in Okinawa, they drank. The job of the special guards was to see that they didn't tear the barracks down. We had our headquarters in the main building, just a wooden contraption with panel-walled offices. Here at a rolltop desk we sat around, shifting our guns off our hips43 and yawning, and the old cops told stories.
It was a horrible crew of men, men with cop-souls, all except Remi and myself. Remi was only trying to make a living, and so was I, but these men wanted to make arrests and compliments from the chief of police in town. They even said that if you didn't make at least one a month you'd be fired. I gulped44 at the prospect45 of making an arrest. What actually happened was that I was as drunk as anybody in the barracks the night all hell broke loose.
This was a night when the schedule was so arranged that I was all alone for six hours--the only cop on the grounds; and everybody in the barracks seemed to have gotten drunk that night. It was because their ship was leaving in the morning. They drank like seamen46 the night before the anchor goes up. I sat in the office with my feet on the desk, reading iBlue Booki adventures about Oregon and the north country, when suddenly I realized there was a great hum of activity in the usually quiet night. I went out. Lights were burning in practically every damned shack on the grounds. Men were shouting, bottles were breaking. It was do or die for me. I took my flashlight and went to the noisiest door and knocked. Someone opened it about six inches.
"What do iyoui want?"
I said, "I'm guarding these barracks tonight and you boys are supposed to keep quiet as much as you can"--or some such silly re- mark. They slammed the door in my face. I stood looking at the wood of it against my nose. It was like a Western movie; the time had come for me to assert myself. I knocked again. They opened up wide this time. "Listen," I said, "I don't want to come around bothering you fel- lows, but I'll lose my job if you make too much noise."
know."
"Who are you?" "I'm a guard here." "Never seen you before." "Well, here's my badge."
"What are you doing with that pistolcracker on your ass47?" "It isn't mine," I apologized. "I borrowed it."
"Have a drink, fer krissakes." I didn't mind if I did. I took two.
I said, "Okay, boys? You'll keep quiet, boys? I'll get hell, you "It's all right, kid," they said. "Go make your rounds. Come back for another drink if you want one."
And I went to all the doors in this manner, and pretty soon I was as drunk as anybody else. Come dawn, it was my duty to put up the American flag on a sixty-foot pole, and this morning I put it up upside down and went home to bed. When I came back in the evening the regular cops were sitting around grimly in the office.
"Say, bo, what was all the noise around here last night? We've had complaints from people who live in those houses across the can-yon."
"I don't know," I said. "It sounds pretty quiet right now."
"The whole contingent48's gone. You was supposed to keep order around here last night--the chief is yelling at you. And another thing-- do you know you can go to jail for putting the American flag upside down on a government pole?"
"Upside down?" I was horrified49; of course I hadn't realized it. I did it every morning mechanically.
"Yessir," said a fat cop who'd spent twenty-two years as a guard in Alcatraz. "You could go to jail for doing something like that." The others nodded grimly. They were always sitting around on their asses50; they were proud of their jobs. They handled their guns and talked about them. They were itching51 to shoot somebody. Remi and me.
The cop who had been an Alcatraz guard was potbellied and about sixty, retired52 but unable to keep away from the atmospheres that had nourished his dry soul all his life. Every night he drove to work in his '35 Ford53, punched the clock exactly on time, and sat down at the rolltop desk. He labored54 painfully over the simple form we all had to fill out every night--rounds, time, what happened, and so on. Then he leaned back and told stories. "You should have been here about two months ago when me and Sledge55" (that was another cop, a youngster who wanted to be a Texas Ranger56 and had to be satisfied with his present lot) "arrested a drunk in Barrack G. Boy, you should have seen the blood fly. I'll take you over there tonight and show you the stains on the wall. We had him bouncing from one wall to another. First Sledge hit him, and then me, and then he subsided57 and went quietly. That fellow swore to kill us when he got out of jail--got thirty days. Here it is isixtyi days, and he ain't showed up." And this was the big point of the story. They'd put such a fear in him that he was too yellow to come back and try to kill them.
The old cop went on, sweetly reminiscing about the horrors of Alcatraz. "We used to march 'em like an Army platoon to breakfast. Wasn't one man out of step. Everything went like clockwork. You should have seen it. I was a guard there for twenty-two years. Never had any trouble. Those boys knew we meant business. A lot of fellows get soft guarding prisoners, and they're the ones that usually get in trouble. Now you take you--from what I've been observing about you, you seem to me a little bit too ileenenti with the men." He raised his pipe and looked at me sharp. "They take advantage of that, you know."
I knew that. I told him I wasn't cut out to be a cop.
"Yes, but that's the job that you iapplied fori. Now you got to make up your mind one way or the other, or you'll never get any- where. It's your duty. You're sworn in. You can't compromise with things like this. Law and order's got to be kept."
I didn't know what to say; he was right; but all I wanted to do was sneak14 out into the night and disappear somewhere, and go and find out what everybody was doing all over the country.
The other cop, Sledge, was tall, muscular, with a black-haired crew-cut and a nervous twitch58 in his neck--like a boxer59 who's always punching one fist into another. He rigged himself out like a Texas Ran- ger of old. He wore a revolver down low, with ammunition60 belt, and carried a small quirt of some kind, and pieces of leather hanging eve- rywhere, like a walking torture chamber61: shiny shoes, low-hanging jacket, cocky hat, everything but boots. He was always showing me holds--reaching down under my crotch and lifting me up nimbly. In point of strength I could have thrown him clear to the ceiling with the same hold, and I knew it well; but I never let him know for fear he'd want a wrestling match. A wrestling match with a guy like that would end up in shooting. I'm sure he was a better shot; I'd never had a gun in my life. It scared me even to load one. He desperately62 wanted to make arrests. One night we were alone on duty and he came back red- faced mad.
"I told some boys in there to keep quiet and they're still making noise. I told them twice. I always give a man two chances. Not three. You come with me and I'm going back there and arrest them."
"Well, let imei give them a third chance," I said. "I'll talk to them."
"No, sir, I never gave a man more than two chances." I sighed.
Here we go. We went to the offending room, and Sledge opened the door and told everybody to file out. It was embarrassing. Every single one of us was blushing. This is the story of America. Everybody's doing what they think they're supposed to do. So what if a bunch of men talk in loud voices and drink the night? But Sledge wanted to prove something. He made sure to bring me along in case they jumped him. They might have. They were all brothers, all from Alabama. We strolled back to the station, Sledge in front and me in back.
One of the boys said to me, "Tell that crotch-eared mean-ass to take it easy on us. We might get fired for this and never get to Okinawa."
"I'll talk to him."
In the station I told Sledge to forget it. He said, for everybody to hear, and blushing, "I don't give anybody no more than two chances."
"What the hail," said the Alabaman, "what difference does it make? We might lose our jobs." Sledge said nothing and filled out the arrest forms. He arrested only one of them; he called the prowl car in town. They came and took him away. The other brothers walked off sullenly63. "What's Ma going to say?" they said. One of them came back to me. "You tell that Tex-ass son of a bitch if my brother ain't out of jail tomorrow night he's going to get his ass fixed64." I told Sledge, in a neu- tral way, and he said nothing. The brother was let off easy and nothing happened. The contingent shipped out; a new wild bunch came in. If it hadn't been for Remi Bonc?ur I wouldn't have stayed at this job two hours.
But Remi Bonc?ur and I were on duty alone many a night, and that's when everything jumped. We made our first round of the even- ing in a leisurely65 way, Remi trying all the doors to see if they were locked and hoping to find one unlocked. He'd say, "For years I've an idea to develop a dog into a super thief who'd go into these guys' rooms and take dollars out of their pockets. I'd train him to take noth- ing but green money; I'd make him smell it all day long. If there was any humanly possible way, I'd train him to take only twenties." Remi was full of mad schemes; he talked about that dog for weeks. Only once he found an unlocked door. I didn't like the idea, so I sauntered on down the hall. Remi stealthily opened it up. He came face to face with the barracks supervisor66. Remi hated that man's face. He asked me, "What's the name of that Russian author you're always talking about-- the one who put the newspapers in his shoe and walked around in a stovepipe hat he found in a garbage pail?" This was an exaggeration of what I'd told Remi of Dostoevski. "Ah, that's it--that's it--Dostioffski. A man with a face like that supervisor can only have one name--it's Dos- tioffski." The only unlocked door he ever found belonged to Dosti- offski. D. was asleep when he heard someone fiddling67 with his doork- nob. He got up in his pajamas68. He came to the door looking twice as ugly as usual. When Remi opened it he saw a haggard face suppurated with hatred69 and dull fury.
"What is the meaning of this?"
"I was only trying this door. I thought this was the--ah--mop room. I was looking for a mop."
"What do you imeani you were looking for a mop?" "Well--ah."
And I stepped up and said, "One of the men puked in the hall upstairs. We have to mop it up."
"This is inoti the mop room. This is imyi room. Another incident like this and I'll have you fellows investigated and thrown out! Do you understand me clearly?"
"A fellow puked upstairs," I said again.
"The mop room is down the hall. Down there." And he pointed33, and waited for us to go and get a mop, which we did, and foolishly carried it upstairs.
I said, "Goddammit, Remi, you're always getting us into trouble. Why don't you lay off? Why do you have to steal all the time?" "The world owes me a few things, that's all. You can't teach the
old maestro a new tune. You go on talking like that and I'm going to start calling you Dostioffski."
Remi was just like a little boy. Somewhere in his past, in his lonely schooldays in France, they'd taken everything from him; his stepparents just stuck him in schools and left him there; he was brow- beaten and thrown out of one school after another; he walked the French roads at night devising curses out of his innocent stock of words. He was out to get back everything he'd lost; there was no end to his loss; this thing would drag on forever.
The barracks cafeteria was our meat. We looked around to make sure nobody was watching, and especially to see if any of our cop friends were lurking70 about to check on us; then I squatted71 down, and Remi put a foot on each shoulder and up he went. He opened the window, which was never locked since he saw to it in the evenings, scrambled through, and came down on the flour table. I was a little more agile72 and just jumped and crawled in. Then we went to the soda73 fountain. Here, realizing a dream of mine from infancy74, I took the cov- er off the chocolate ice cream and stuck my hand in wrist-deep and hauled me up a skewer75 of ice cream and licked at it. Then we got ice- cream boxes and stuffed them, poured chocolate syrup76 over and some- times strawberries too, then walked around in the kitchens, opened iceboxes, to see what we could take home in our pockets. I often tore off a piece of roast beef and wrapped it in a napkin. "You know what President Truman said," Remi would say. "We must cut down on the cost of living."
One night I waited a long time as he filled a huge box full of groceries. Then we couldn't get it through the window. Remi had to unpack77 everything and put it back. Later in the night, when he went off duty and I was all alone on the base, a strange thing happened. I was taking a walk along the old canyon trail, hoping to meet a deer (Remi had seen deer around, that country being wild even in 1947), when I heard a frightening noise in the dark. It was a huffing and puff78- ing. I thought it was a rhinoceros79 coming for me in the dark. I grabbed my gun. A tall figure appeared in the canyon gloom; it had an enorm- ous head. Suddenly I realized it was Remi with a huge box of groceries on his shoulder. He was moaning and groaning from the enormous weight of it. He'd found the key to the cafeteria somewhere and had got his groceries out the front door. I said, "Remi, I thought you were home; what the hell are you doing?"
And he said, "Paradise, I have told you several times what Pres- ident Truman said, iwe must cut down on the cost of livingi." And I heard him huff and puff into the darkness. I've already described that awful trail back to our shack, up hill and down dale. He hid the groce- ries in the tall grass and came back to me. "Sal, I just can't make it alone. I'm going to divide it into two boxes and you're going to help me."
"But I'm on duty."
"I'll watch the place while you're gone. Things are getting rough all around. We've just got to make it the best way we can, and that's all there is to it." He wiped his face. "Whoo! I've told you time and time again, Sal, that we're buddies80, and we're in this thing together. There's just no two ways about it. The Dostioffskis, the cops, the Lee Anns, all the evil skulls81 of this world, are out for our skin. It's up to us to see that nobody pulls any schemes on us. They've got a lot more up their sleeves besides a dirty arm. Remember that. You can't teach the old maestro a new tune."
I finally asked, "Whatever are we going to do about shipping82 out?" We'd been doing these things for ten weeks. I was making fifty- five bucks a week and sending my aunt an average of forty. I'd spent only one evening in San Francisco in all that time. My life was wrapped in the shack, in Remi's battles with Lee Ann, and in the mid- dle of the night at the barracks.
Remi was gone off in the dark to get another box. I struggled with him on that old Zorro road. We piled up the groceries a mile high on Lee Ann's kitchen table. She woke up and rubbed her eyes.
"You know what President Truman said?" She was delighted. I suddenly began to realize that everybody in America is a natural-born thief. I was getting the bug83 myself. I even began to try to see if doors were locked. The other cops were getting suspicious of us; they saw it in our eyes; they understood with unfailing instinct what was on our minds. Years of experience had taught them the likes of Remi and me.
In the daytime Remi and I went out with the gun and tried to shoot quail84 in the hills. Remi sneaked85 up to within three feet of the clucking birds and let go a blast of the .32. He missed. His tremendous laugh roared over the California woods and over America. "The time has come for you and me to go and see the Banana King."
It was Saturday; we got all spruced up and went down to the bus station on the crossroads. We rode into San Francisco and strolled through the streets. Remi's huge laugh resounded everywhere we went. "You must write a story about the Banana King," he warned me. "Don't pull any tricks on the old maestro and write about something else. The Banana King is your meat. There stands the Banana King." The Banana King was an old man selling bananas on the corner. I was completely bored. But Remi kept punching me in the ribs and even dragging me along by the collar. "When you write about the Banana King you write about the human-interest things of life." I told him I didn't give a damn about the Banana King. "Until you learn to realize the importance of the Banana King you will know absolutely nothing about the human-interest things of the world," said Remi emphatically.
There was an old rusty86 freighter out in the bay that was used as a buoy87. Remi was all for rowing out to it, so one afternoon Lee Ann packed a lunch and we hired a boat and went out there. Remi brought some tools. Lee Ann took all her clothes off and lay down to sun her- self on the flying bridge. I watched her from the poop. Remi went clear down to the boiler88 rooms below, where rats scurried89 around, and be- gan hammering and banging away for copper90 lining91 that wasn't there. I sat in the dilapidated officer's mess. It was an old, old ship and had been beautifully appointed, with scrollwork in the wood, and built-in seachests. This was the ghost of the San Francisco of Jack35 London. I dreamed at the sunny messboard. Rats ran in the pantry. Once upon a time there'd been a blue-eyed sea captain dining in here.
I joined Remi in the bowels92 below. He yanked at everything loose. "Not a thing. I thought there'd be copper, I thought there'd be at least an old wrench93 or two. This ship's been stripped by a bunch of thieves." It had been standing94 in the bay for years. The copper had been stolen by a hand that was a hand no more.
I said to Remi, "I'd love to sleep in this old ship some night when the fog comes in and the thing creaks and you hear the big B-O of the buoys95."
Remi was astounded96; his admiration97 for me doubled. "Sal, I'll pay you five dollars if you have the nerve to do that. Don't you realize this thing may be haunted by the ghosts of old sea captains? I'll not only pay you five, I'll row you out and pack you a lunch and lend you blankets and candle."
"Agreed!" I said. Remi ran to tell Lee Ann. I wanted to jump down from a mast and land right in her, but I kept my promise to Re- mi. I averted98 my eyes from her.
Meanwhile I began going to Frisco more often; I tried every- thing in the books to make a girl. I even spent a whole night with a girl on a park bench, till dawn, without success. She was a blonde from Minnesota. There were plenty of queers. Several times I went to San Fran with my gun and when a queer approached me in a bar John I took out the gun and said, "Eh? Eh? What's that you say?" He bolted. I've never understood why I did that; I knew queers all over the coun- try. It was just the loneliness of San Francisco and the fact that I had a gun. I had to show it to someone. I walked by a jewelry99 store and had the sudden impulse to shoot up the window, take out the finest rings and bracelets100, and run to give them to Lee Ann. Then we could flee to Nevada together. The time was coming for me to leave Frisco or I'd go crazy.
I wrote long letters to Dean and Carlo, who were now at Old Bull's shack in the Texas bayou. They said they were ready to come join me in San Fran as soon as this-and-that was ready. Meanwhile everything began to collapse101 with Remi and Lee Ann and me. The Septem- ber rains came, and with them harangues102. Remi had flown down to Hollywood with her, taking my sad silly movie original, and nothing had happened. The famous director was drunk and paid no attention to them; they hung around his Malibu Beach cottage; they started fight- ing in front of other guests; and they flew back.
The final topper was the racetrack. Remi saved all his money, about a hundred dollars, spruced me up in some of his clothes, put Lee Ann on his arm, and off we went to Golden Gate racetrack near Rich- mond across the bay. To show you what a heart that guy had, he put half of our stolen groceries in a tremendous brown paper bag and took them to a poor widow he knew in Richmond in a housing project much like our own, wash flapping in the California sun. We went with him. There were sad ragged17 children. The woman thanked Remi. She was the sister of some seaman103 he vaguely104 knew. "Think nothing of it, Mrs. Carter," said Remi in his most elegant and polite tones. "There's plenty more where that came from."
We proceeded to the racetrack. He made incredible twenty dollar bets to win, and before the seventh race he was broke. With our last two food dollars he placed still another bet and lost. We had to hitchhike back to San Francisco. I was on the road again. A gentleman gave us a ride in his snazzy car. I sat up front with him. Remi was try- ing to put a story down that he'd lost his wallet in back of the grandstand at the track. "The truth is," I said, "we lost all our money on the races, and to forestall105 any more hitching106 from racetracks, from now on we go to a bookie, hey, Remi?" Remi blushed all over. The man fi- nally admitted he was an official of the Golden Gate track. He let us off at the elegant Palace Hotel; we watched him disappear among the chandeliers, his pockets full of money, his head held high.
"Wagh! Whoo!" howled Remi in the evening streets of Frisco.
"Paradise rides with the man who runs the racetrack and swears he's switching to bookies. Lee Ann, Lee Ann!" He punched and mauled her.
"Positively the funniest man in the world! There must be a lot of Ital- ians in Sausalito. Aaah-how!" He wrapped himself around a pole to laugh.
That night it started raining as Lee Ann gave dirty looks to both of us. Not a cent left in the house. The rain drummed on the roof. "It's going to last for a week," said Remi. He had taken off his beautiful suit; he was back in his miserable107 shorts and Army cap and T-shirt. His great brown sad eyes stared at the planks108 of the floor. The gun lay on the table. We could hear Mr. Snow laughing his head off across the rainy night somewhere.
"I get so sick and tired of that sonofabitch," snapped Lee Ann. She was on the go to start trouble. She began needling Remi. He was busy going through his little black book, in which were names of people, mostly seamen, who owed him money. Beside their names he wrote curses in red ink. I dreaded109 the day I'd ever find my way into that book. Lately I'd been sending so much money to my aunt that I only bought four or five dollars' worth of groceries a week. In keeping with what President Truman said, I added a few more dollars' worth. But Remi felt it wasn't my proper share; so he'd taken to hanging the grocery slips, the long ribbon slips with itemized prices, on the wall of the bathroom for me to see and understand. Lee Ann was convinced Remi was hiding money from her, and that I was too, for that matter. She threatened to leave him.
Remi curled his lip. "Where do you think you'll go?"
"Jimmy."
"iJimmyi? A cashier at the racetrack? Do you hear that, Sal, Lee Ann is going to go and put the latch110 on a cashier at the racetrack. Be sure and bring your broom, dear, the horses are going to eat a lot of oats this week with my hundred-dollar bill."
Things grew to worse proportions; the rain roared. Lee Ann
originally lived in the place first, so she told Remi to pack up and get out. He started packing. I pictured myself all alone in this rainy shack with that untamed shrew. I tried to intervene. Remi pushed Lee Ann. She made a jump for the gun. Remi gave me the gun and told me to hide it; there was a clip of eight shells in it. Lee Ann began screaming, and finally she put on her raincoat and went out in the mud to find a cop, and what a cop--if it wasn't our old friend Alcatraz. Luckily he wasn't home. She came back all wet. I hid in my corner with my head between my knees. Gad111, what was I doing three thousand miles from home? Why had I come here? Where was my slow boat to China?
"And another thing, you dirty man," yelled Lee Ann. "Tonight was the last time I'll ever make you your filthy112 brains and eggs, and your filthy Iamb curry113, so you can fill your filthy belly36 and get fat and sassy right before my eyes."
"It's all right," Remi just said quietly. "It's perfectly114 all right. When I took up with you I didn't expect roses and moonshine and I'm not surprised this day. I tried to do a few things for you--I tried my best for both of you; you've both let me down. I'm terribly, terribly dis- appointed in both of you," he continued in absolute sincerity115. "I thought something would come of us together, something fine and lasting116, I tried, I flew to Hollywood, I got Sal a job, I bought you beauti- ful dresses, I tried to introduce you to the finest people in San Francis- co. You refused, you both refused to follow the slightest wish I had. I asked for nothing in return. Now I ask for one last favor and then I'll never ask a favor again. My stepfather is coming to San Francisco next Saturday night. All I ask is that you come with me and try to look as though everything is the way I've written him. In other words, you, Lee Ann, you are my girl, and you, Sal, you are my friend. I've ar- ranged to borrow a hundred dollars for Saturday night. I'm going to see that my father has a good time and can go away without any rea- son in the world to worry about me."
This surprised me. Remi's stepfather was a distinguished117 doctor
who had practiced in Vienna, Paris, and London. I said, "You mean to tell me you're going to spend a hundred dollars on your stepfather? He's got more money than you'll ever have! You'll be in debt, man!"
"That's all right," said Remi quietly and with defeat in his voice. "I ask only one last thing of you--that you itryi at least to make things look all right and itryi to make a good impression. I love my stepfather and I respect him. He's coming with his young wife. We must show him every courtesy." There were times when Remi was really the most gentlemanly person in the world. Lee Ann was im- pressed, and looked forward to meeting his stepfather; she thought he might be a catch, if his son wasn't.
Saturday night rolled around. I had already quit my job with the cops, just before being fired for not making enough arrests, and this was going to be my last Saturday night. Remi and Lee Ann went to meet his stepfather at the hotel room first; I had traveling money and got crocked in the bar downstairs. Then I went up to join them all, late as hell. His father opened the door, a distinguished tall man in pince- nez. "Ah," I said on seeing him, "Monsieur Bonc?ur, how are you? iJe suis hauti!" I cried, which was intended to mean in French, "I am high, I have been drinking," but means absolutely nothing in French. The doctor was perplexed118. I had already screwed up Remi. He blushed at me.
We all went to a swank restaurant to eat--Alfred's, in North Beach, where poor Remi spent a good fifty dollars for the five of us, drinks and all. And now came the worst thing. Who should be sitting at the bar in Alfred's but my old friend Roland Major! He had just ar- rived from Denver and got a job on a San Francisco paper. He was crocked. He wasn't even shaved. He rushed over and slapped me on the back as I lifted a highball to my lips. He threw himself down on the booth beside Dr. Bonc?ur and leaned over the man's soup to talk to me. Remi was red as a beet.
"Won't you introduce your friend, Sal?" he said with a weak smile.
"Roland Major of the San Francisco iArgusi," I tried to say with a straight face. Lee Ann was furious at me.
Major began chatting in the monsieur's ear. "How do you like teaching high-school French?" he yelled. "Pardon me, but I don't teach high-school French." "Oh, I thought you taught high-school French." He was being deliberately119 rude. I remembered the night he wouldn't let us have our party in Denver; but I forgave him.
I forgave everybody, I gave up, I got drunk. I began talking
moonshine and roses to the doctor's young wife. I drank so much I had to go to the men's room every two minutes, and to do so I had to hop12 over Dr. Bonc?ur's lap. Everything was falling apart. My stay in San Francisco was coming to an end. Remi would never talk to me again. It was horrible because I really loved Remi and I was one of the very few people in the world who knew what a genuine and grand fellow he was. It would take years for him to get over it. How disastrous120 all this was compared to what I'd written him from Paterson, planning my red line Route 6 across America. Here I was at the end of America--no more land--and now there was nowhere to go but back. I determined121 at least to make my trip a circular one: I decided122 then and there to go to Hollywood and back through Texas to see my bayou gang; then the rest be damned.
Major was thrown out of Alfred's. Dinner was over anyway, so
I joined him; that is to say, Remi suggested it, and I went off with Ma- jor to drink. We sat at a table in the Iron Pot and Major said, "Sam, I don't like that fairy at the bar," in a loud voice.
"Yeah, Jake?" I said.
"Sam," he said, "I think I'll get up and conk him." "No, Jake," I said, carrying on with the Hemingway imitation. "Just aim from here and see what happens." We ended up swaying on a street corner.
In the morning, as Remi and Lee Ann slept, and as I looked
with some sadness at the big pile of wash Remi and I were scheduled to do in the Bendix machine in the shack in the back (which had always been such a joyous sunny operation among the colored women and with Mr. Snow laughing his head off), I decided to leave. I went out on the porch. "No, dammit," I said to myself, "I promised I wouldn't leave till I climbed that mountain." That was the big side of the canyon that led mysteriously to the Pacific Ocean.
So I stayed another day. It was Sunday. A great heat wave descended123; it was a beautiful day, the sun turned red at three. I started up the mountain and got to the top at four. All those lovely California cot- tonwoods and eucalypti124 brooded on all sides. Near the peak there were no more trees, just rocks and grass. Cattle were grazing on the top of the coast. There was the Pacific, a few more foothills away, blue and vast and with a great wall of white advancing from the legendary125 pota- to patch where Frisco fogs are born. Another hour and it would come streaming through the Golden Gate to shroud6 the romantic city in white, and a young man would hold his girl by the hand and climb slowly up a long white sidewalk with a bottle of Tokay in his pocket. That was Frisco; and beautiful women standing in white doorways126, waiting for their men; and Coit Tower, and the Embarcadero, and Market Street, and the eleven teeming127 hills.
I spun128 around till I was dizzy; I thought I'd fall down as in a dream, clear off the precipice129. Oh where is the girl I love? I thought, and looked everywhere, as I had looked everywhere in the little world below. And before me was the great raw bulge130 and bulk of my Ameri- can continent; somewhere far across, gloomy, crazy New York was throwing up its cloud of dust and brown steam. There is something brown and holy about the East; and California is white like washlines and emptyheaded--at least that's what I thought then.
收听单词发音 |
1
den
|
|
| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
lodges
|
|
| v.存放( lodge的第三人称单数 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
jolted
|
|
| （使）摇动， （使）震惊( jolt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
jersey
|
|
| n.运动衫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
shrouded
|
|
| v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 )；保密 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
shroud
|
|
| n.裹尸布，寿衣；罩，幕；vt.覆盖，隐藏 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
weird
|
|
| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
bums
|
|
| n. 游荡者，流浪汉，懒鬼，闹饮，屁股 adj. 没有价值的，不灵光的，不合理的 vt. 令人失望，乞讨 vi. 混日子，以乞讨为生 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
shack
|
|
| adj.简陋的小屋，窝棚 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
shacks
|
|
| n.窝棚，简陋的小屋( shack的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
canyon
|
|
| n.峡谷，溪谷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
hop
|
|
| n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
joyous
|
|
| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
sneak
|
|
| vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
sneaking
|
|
| a.秘密的，不公开的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
oars
|
|
| n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
ragged
|
|
| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
harp
|
|
| n.竖琴；天琴座 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
bucks
|
|
| n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
attired
|
|
| adj.穿着整齐的v.使穿上衣服，使穿上盛装( attire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
snarls
|
|
| n.（动物的）龇牙低吼( snarl的名词复数 )；愤怒叫嚷（声）；咆哮（声）；疼痛叫声v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的第三人称单数 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
beet
|
|
| n.甜菜；甜菜根 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
slay
|
|
| v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
positively
|
|
| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
triumphant
|
|
| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
demon
|
|
| n.魔鬼，恶魔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
prodded
|
|
| v.刺，戳( prod的过去式和过去分词 )；刺激；促使；（用手指或尖物）戳 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
tune
|
|
| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
rued
|
|
| v.对…感到后悔( rue的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
countless
|
|
| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
scribbling
|
|
| n.乱涂[写]胡[乱]写的文章[作品]v.潦草的书写( scribble的现在分词 )；乱画；草草地写；匆匆记下 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
bastards
|
|
| 私生子( bastard的名词复数 )； 坏蛋； 讨厌的事物； 麻烦事 （认为别人走运或不幸时说）家伙 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
jack
|
|
| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
belly
|
|
| n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
boredom
|
|
| n.厌烦，厌倦，乏味，无聊 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
promptly
|
|
| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
illuminate
|
|
| vt.照亮，照明；用灯光装饰；说明，阐释 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
scrambled
|
|
| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
farmhouse
|
|
| n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
creek
|
|
| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
hips
|
|
| abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
gulped
|
|
| v.狼吞虎咽地吃，吞咽( gulp的过去式和过去分词 )；大口地吸（气）；哽住 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
prospect
|
|
| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
seamen
|
|
| n.海员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
ass
|
|
| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
contingent
|
|
| adj.视条件而定的；n.一组，代表团，分遣队 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
horrified
|
|
| a.(表现出)恐惧的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
asses
|
|
| n. 驴，愚蠢的人，臀部 adv. (常用作后置)用于贬损或骂人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
itching
|
|
| adj.贪得的，痒的，渴望的v.发痒( itch的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
retired
|
|
| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
Ford
|
|
| n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
labored
|
|
| adj.吃力的，谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
sledge
|
|
| n.雪橇，大锤；v.用雪橇搬运，坐雪橇往 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
ranger
|
|
| n.国家公园管理员，护林员；骑兵巡逻队员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
subsided
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
twitch
|
|
| v.急拉，抽动，痉挛，抽搐；n.扯，阵痛，痉挛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
boxer
|
|
| n.制箱者，拳击手 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
ammunition
|
|
| n.军火，弹药 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
chamber
|
|
| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
desperately
|
|
| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
sullenly
|
|
| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
leisurely
|
|
| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
supervisor
|
|
| n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
fiddling
|
|
| 微小的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
pajamas
|
|
| n.睡衣裤 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
hatred
|
|
| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
lurking
|
|
| 潜在 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
squatted
|
|
| 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。 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
agile
|
|
| adj.敏捷的，灵活的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
soda
|
|
| n.苏打水；汽水 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
infancy
|
|
| n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
skewer
|
|
| n.（烤肉用的）串肉杆；v.用杆串好 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
syrup
|
|
| n.糖浆，糖水 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
unpack
|
|
| vt.打开包裹（或行李），卸货 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
puff
|
|
| n.一口(气)；一阵(风)；v.喷气，喘气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
rhinoceros
|
|
| n.犀牛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
buddies
|
|
| n.密友( buddy的名词复数 )；同伴；弟兄；（用于称呼男子，常带怒气）家伙v.（如密友、战友、伙伴、弟兄般）交往( buddy的第三人称单数 )；做朋友；亲近（…）；伴护艾滋病人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
skulls
|
|
| 颅骨( skull的名词复数 )； 脑袋； 脑子； 脑瓜 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
shipping
|
|
| n.船运（发货，运输，乘船） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
bug
|
|
| n.虫子；故障；窃听器；vt.纠缠；装窃听器 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
quail
|
|
| n.鹌鹑；vi.畏惧，颤抖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
sneaked
|
|
| v.潜行( sneak的过去式和过去分词 )；偷偷溜走；（儿童向成人）打小报告；告状 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
rusty
|
|
| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
buoy
|
|
| n.浮标；救生圈；v.支持，鼓励 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
boiler
|
|
| n.锅炉；煮器(壶，锅等) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
scurried
|
|
| v.急匆匆地走( scurry的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
copper
|
|
| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
91
lining
|
|
| n.衬里，衬料 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
bowels
|
|
| n.肠，内脏，内部；肠( bowel的名词复数 )；内部，最深处 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
93
wrench
|
|
| v.猛拧；挣脱；使扭伤；n.扳手；痛苦，难受 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
94
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
95
buoys
|
|
| n.浮标( buoy的名词复数 )；航标；救生圈；救生衣v.使浮起( buoy的第三人称单数 )；支持；为…设浮标；振奋…的精神 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
96
astounded
|
|
| v.使震惊(astound的过去式和过去分词)；愕然；愕；惊讶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
97
admiration
|
|
| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
98
averted
|
|
| 防止，避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 )； 转移 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
99
jewelry
|
|
| n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
100
bracelets
|
|
| n.手镯，臂镯( bracelet的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
101
collapse
|
|
| vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
102
harangues
|
|
| n.高谈阔论的长篇演讲( harangue的名词复数 )v.高谈阔论( harangue的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
103
seaman
|
|
| n.海员，水手，水兵 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
104
vaguely
|
|
| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
105
forestall
|
|
| vt.抢在…之前采取行动；预先阻止 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
106
hitching
|
|
| 搭乘； （免费）搭乘他人之车( hitch的现在分词 )； 搭便车； 攀上； 跃上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
107
miserable
|
|
| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
108
planks
|
|
| （厚）木板( plank的名词复数 )； 政纲条目，政策要点 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
109
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) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
110
latch
|
|
| n.门闩，窗闩；弹簧锁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
111
gad
|
|
| n.闲逛；v.闲逛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
112
filthy
|
|
| adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
113
curry
|
|
| n.咖哩粉，咖哩饭菜；v.用咖哩粉调味，用马栉梳，制革 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
114
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
115
sincerity
|
|
| n.真诚，诚意；真实 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
116
lasting
|
|
| adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
117
distinguished
|
|
| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
118
perplexed
|
|
| adj.不知所措的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
119
deliberately
|
|
| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
120
disastrous
|
|
| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
121
determined
|
|
| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
122
decided
|
|
| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
123
descended
|
|
| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
124
eucalypti
|
|
| n.桉树 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
125
legendary
|
|
| adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
126
doorways
|
|
| n.门口，门道( doorway的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
127
teeming
|
|
| adj.丰富的v.充满( teem的现在分词 )；到处都是；（指水、雨等）暴降；倾注 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
128
spun
|
|
| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
129
precipice
|
|
| n.悬崖，危急的处境 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
130
bulge
|
|
| n.突出，膨胀，激增；vt.突出，膨胀 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |