This went on from about the middle of the war until... well, until one day I was trapped. Finally the day came when I did desperately4 want a job. I needed it. Not having another minute to lose, I decided5 that I would take the last job on earth, that of messenger boy. I walked into the employment bureau of the telegraph company - the Cosmodemonic Telegraph Company of North America - towards the dose of the day, prepared to go through with it. I had just come from the public library and I had under my arm some fat books on economics and metaphysics. To my great amazement8 I was refused the job.
The guy who turned me down was a little runt who ran the switchboard. He seemed to take me for a college student, though it was dear enough from my application that I had long left school. I had even honoured myself on the application with a Ph.D. degree from Columbia University. Apparently9 that passed unnoticed, or else was suspiciously regarded by this runt who had turned me down. I was furious, the more so because for once in my life I was in earnest. Not only that, but I had swallowed my pride, which in certain peculiar11 ways is rather large. My wife of course gave me the usual leer and sneer13. I had done it as a gesture, she said. I went to bed thinking about it, still smarting, getting angrier and angrier as the night wore on. The fact that I had a wife and child to support didn't bother me so much, people didn't offer you jobs because you had a family to support, that much I understood only too well. No, what rankled14 was that they had rejected me.Henry V. Miller15, a competent, superior individual who had asked for the lowest job in the world. That burned me up. I couldn't get over it. In the morning I was up bright and early, shaved, put on my best clothes and hot-footed it to the subway. I went immediately to the main offices of the telegraph company ... up to the 25th floor or wherever it was that the president and the vice-presi-dents had their cubicles16. I asked to see the president. Of course the president was either out of town or too busy to see me, but wouldn't I care to see the vice-president, or his secretary rather. I saw the vice-president's secretary, an intelligent, considerate sort of chap, and I gave him an earful. I did it adroitly17, without too much heat, but letting him understand all the while that I wasn't to be put out of the way so easily.
When he picked up the telephone and demanded the general manager I thought it was just a gag, that they were going to pass me around like that from one to the other until I'd get fed up. But the moment I heard him talk I changed my opinion. When I got to the general manager's office, which was in another building uptown, they were waiting for me. I sat down in a comfortable leather chair and accepted one of the big cigars that were thrust forward. This individual seemed at once to be vitally concerned about the matter. He wanted me to tell him all about it, down to the last detail, his big hairy ears cocked to catch the least crumb18 of information which would justify19 something or other which was formulating20 itself inside his dome21. I realized that by some accident I had really been instrumental in doing him a service. I let him wheedle22 it out of me to suit his fancy, observing all the time which way the wind was blowing. And as the talk progressed I noticed that be was warming up to me more and more. At last some one was showing a little confidence in me 1 That was all I required to get started on one of my favourite lines. For, after years of job hunting I had naturally become quite adept23, I knew not only what notto say, but I knew also what to imply, what to insinuate24. Soon the assistant general manager was called in and asked to listen to my story. By this time I knew what the story was. I understood that Hymie - "that little kike", as the general manager called him - had no business pretending that he was the employment manager. Hymie had usurped25 his prerogative26, that much was dear. It was also dear that Hymie was a Jew and that Jews were not in good odour with the general manager, nor with Mr. Twilliger, the vice-president, who was a thorn in the general manager's side.
Perhaps it was Hymie, "the dirty little kike" who was responsible for the high percentage of Jews on the messenger force. Perhaps Hymie was really the one who was doing the hiring at the employment office - at Sunset Place, they called it. It was an excellent opportunity, I gathered, for Mr. Clancy, the general manager, to take down a certain Mr. Bums27 who, he informed me, had been the employment manager for some thirty years now and who was evidently getting lazy on the job.
The conference lasted several hours. Before it was terminated Mr. Clancy took me aside and informed me that he was going to make methe boss of the Works. Before putting me into office, however, he was going to ask me as a special favour, and also as a sort of apprenticeship29 which would stand me in good stead, to work as a special messenger. I would receive the salary of employment manager, but it would be paid me out of a separate account. In short I was to float from office to office and observe the way affairs were conducted by all and sundry30. I was to make a little report from time to time as to how things were going. And once in a while, so he suggested, I was to visit him at his home on the q.t. and have a little chat about the conditions in the hundred and one branches of the Cosmodemonic Telegraph Company in New York City. In other words I was to be a spy for a few months and after that I was to have the run of the joint31. Maybe they'd make me a general manager too one day, or a vice-president. It was a tempting32 oner, even if it was wrapped up in a lot of horse shit. I said Yes.
In a few months I was sitting at Sunset Place hiring and firing like a demon6. It was a slaughter-house, so help me God. The thing was senseless from the bottom up. A waste of men, material and effort A hideous33 farce34 against a backdrop of sweat and misery35. But just as I had accepted the spying so I accepted the hiring and firing and all that went with it. I said Yes to everything. If the vice-president decreed that no cripples were to be hired I hired no cripples. If the vice-president said that all messengers over forty-five were to be fired without notice I fired them without notice. I did everything they instructed me to do, but in such a way that they had to pay for it. When there was a strike I folded my arms and waited for it to blow over. But I first saw to it that it cost them a good penny. The whole system was so rotten, so inhuman36, so lousy, so hopelessly corrupt37 and complicated, that it would have taken a genius to put any sense or order into it, to say nothing of human kindness or consideration. I was up against the whole rotten system of American labour, which is rotten at both ends. I was the fifth wheel on the wagon38 and neither side had any use for me, except to exploit me. In fact, everybody was being exploited - the president and his gang by the unseen powers, the employees by the officials, and so on and around, in and out and through the whole works. From my little perch39 at "Sunset Place" I had a bird's eye view of the whole American society. It was like a page out of the telephone book. Alphabetically40, numerically, statistically41, it made sense. But when you looked at it up close, when you examined the pages separately, or the parts separately, when you examined one lone42 individual and what constituted him, examined the air he breathed, the life he led, the chances he risked, you saw something so foul43 and degrading, so low, so miserable44, so utterly45 hopeless and senseless, that it was worse than looking into a volcano. You could see the whole American life - economically, politically, morally, spiritually, artistically46, statistically, pathologically. It looked like a grand chancre on a worn-out cock. It looked worse than that, really, because you couldn't even see anything resembling a cock any more. Maybe in the past this thing had life, did produce something, did at least give a moment's pleasure, a moment's thrill. But looking at it from where I sat it looked rottener than the wormiest cheese. The wonder was that the stench of it didn't carry'em off... I'm using the past tense all the time, but of course it's the same now, maybe even a bit worse. At least now we're getting it full stink48.
By the time Valeska arrived on the scene I had hired several army corps49 of messengers. My office at Sunset Place was like an open sewer50, and it stank51 like one. I had dug myself into the first line trench52 and I was getting it from all directions at once. To begin with, the man I had ousted53 died of a broken heart a few weeks after my arrival. He held out just long enough to break me in and then he croaked54. Things happened so fast that I didn't have a chance to feel guilty. From the moment I arrived at the office it was one long uninterrupted pandemon- him. An hour before my arrival -1 was always late - the place was already jammed with applicants56. I had to elbow my way up the stairs and literally57 force my way in to get there. Hymie was worse off than I because he was tied to the barricade58. Before I could take my hat off I had to answer a dozen telephone calls. There were three telephones on my desk and they all rang at once. They were bawling59 the piss out of me before I had even sat down to work. There wasn't even time to take a crap - until five or six in the afternoon. Hymie was worse off than I because he was tied to the switchboard. He sat there from eight in the morning, until six, moving waybills around. A waybill was a messenger loaned by one office to another office for the day or a part of the day. None of the hundred and one offices ever had a full staff; Hymie had to play chess with the waybills while I worked like a madman to plug up the gaps. If by a miracle I succeeded in a day of filling all the vacancies60, the next morning would find the situation exactly the same - or worse. Perhaps twenty per cent of the force were steady; the rest was driftwood. The steady ones drove the new ones away. The steady ones earned forty to fifty dollars a week, sometimes sixty or seventy-five, sometimes as much as a hundred dollars a week, which is to say that they earned far more than the clerks and often more than their own managers. As for the new ones, they found it difficult to earn ten dollars a week. Some of them worked an hour and quit, often throwing a batch61 of telegrams in the garbage can or down the sewer. And whenever they quit they wanted their pay immediately, which was impossible, because in the complicated bookkeeping which ruled no one could say what a messenger had earned until at least ten days later. In the beginning I invited the applicant55 to sit down beside me and I explained everything to him in detail. I did that until I lost my voice. Soon I learned to save my strength for the grilling62 that was necessary. In the first place, every other boy was a born liar12 if not a crook63 to boot. Many of them had already been hired and fired a number of times. Some found it an excellent way to find another job, because their duty brought them to hundreds of offices which normally they would never have set foot in. Fortunately McGovern, the old trusty who guarded the door and handed out the application blanks, had a camera eye. And then there were the big ledgers64 behind me, in which there was a record of every applicant who had ever passed through the mill. The ledgers were very much like a police record; they were full of red ink marks, signifying this or that delinquency. To judge from the evidence I was in a tough spot. Every other name involved a theft, fraud, a brawl65, or dementia or perversion66 or idiocy67. "Be careful - so-and-so is an epileptic!" "Don't hire this man - he's a nigger 1" "Watch out - X has been in Dannemora - or else in Sing Sing."
If I had been a stickler68 for etiquette69 nobody would ever have been hired. I had to learn quickly, and not from the records or from those about me, but from experience. There were a thousand and one details by which to judge an applicant: I had to take them all in at once, and quickly, because in one short day, even if you are as fast as Jack70 Robinson, you can only hire so many and no more. And no matter how many I hired it was never enough. The next day it would begin all over again. Some I knew would last only a day, but I had to hire them just the same. The system was wrong from start to finish, but it was not my place to criticize the system. It was mine to hire and fire. I was in the centre of a revolving71 disk which was whirling so fast that nothing could stay put. What was needed was a mechanic, but according to the logic47 of the higher-ups there was nothing wrong with the mechanism72, everything was fine and dandy except that things were temporarily out of order. And things being temporarily out of order brought on epilepsy, theft, vandalism, perversion, niggers, Jews, whores and what-not - sometimes strikes and lockouts. Whereupon, according to this logic, you took a big broom and you swept the stable dean, or you took clubs and guns and you beat sense into the poor idiots who were suffering from the illusion that things were fundamentally wrong. It was good now and then to talk of God, or to have a little community sing - maybe even a bonus was justifiable73 now and then, that is when things were getting too terribly bad for words. But on the whole, the important thing was to keep hiring and firing; as long as there were men and ammunition74 we were to advance, to keep mopping up the trenches75. Meanwhile Hymie kept taking cathartic76 pills -enough to blow out his rear end if he had bad a rear end, but he hadn't one any more, he only imagined he was taking a crap, he only imagined he was shitting on his can. Actually the poor bugger was in a trance. There were a hundred and one offices to look after and each one had a staff of messengers which was mythical77, if not hypothetical, and whether the messengers were real or unreal, tangible78 or intangible, Hymie had to shuffle79 them about from morning to night while I plugged up the holes, which was also imaginary because who could say when a recruit had been dispatched to an office whether he would arrive there today or tomorrow or never. Some of them got lost in the subway or in the labyrinths80 under the skyscrapers81; some rode around on the elevated line all day because with a uniform it was a free ride and perhaps they had never enjoyed riding around all day on the elevated lines. Some of them started for Staten Island and ended up in Canarsie, or else were brought back in a coma82 by a cop. Some forgot where they lived and disappeared completely. Some whom we hired for New York turned up in Philadelphia a month later as though it were normal and according to Hoyle. Some would start for their destination and on the way decide that it was easier to sell newspapers and they would sell them in the uniform we had given them, until they were picked up. Some went straight to the observation ward7, moved by some strange preservative83 instinct.
When he arrived in the morning Hymie first sharpened his pencils; he did this religiously no matter how many calls were coming in, because, as he explained to me later, if he didn't sharpen the pencils first thing off the bat they would never get sharpened. The next thing was to take a glance out the window and see what the weather was like. Then, with a freshly sharpened pencil he made a little box at the head of the slate84 which he kept beside him and in it he gave the weather report. This, he also informed me, often turned out to be a useful alibi85. If the snow were a foot thick or the ground covered with sleet86, even the devil himself might be excused for not shuffling87 the waybills around more speedily, and the employment manager might also be excused for not filling up the holes on such days, no? But why he didn't take a crap first instead of plugging in on the switchboard soon as his pencils were sharpened was a mystery to me. That too he explained to me later. Anyway, the day always broke with confusion, complaints, constipation and vacancies. It also began with loud smelly farts, with bad breaths, with ragged88 nerves, with epilepsy, with meningitis, with low wages, with back pay that was overdue89, with worn-out shoes, with corns and bunions, with flat feet and broken arches, with pocket books missing and fountain pens lost or stolen, with telegrams floating in the sewer, with threats from the vice-president and advice from the managers, with wrangles90 and disputes, with cloudbursts and broken telegraph wires, with new methods of efficiency and old ones that had been discarded, with hope for better times and a prayer for the bonus which never came. The new messengers were going over the top and getting machine-gunned; the old ones were digging in deeper and deeper, like rats in a cheese. Nobody was satisfied, especially not the public. It took ten minutes to reach San Francisco over the wire, but it might take a year to get the message to the man whom it was intended for - or it might never reach him.
The Y.M.C.A., eager to improve the morale91 of working boys everywhere in America, were holdings meetings at noon hour and wouldn't I like to send a few spruce-looking boys to hear William Carnegie Asterbilt Junior give a five minute talk on service. Mr. Mallory of the Welfare League would like to know if I could spare a few minutes some time to tell me about the model prisoners who were on parole and who would be glad to serve in any capacity, even as messengers. Mrs. Guggenhoffer of the Jewish Charities would be very grateful if I would aid her in maintaining some broken-down homes which had broken down because everybody was either infirm, crippled or disabled in the family. Mr. Haggerty of the Runaway92 Home for Boys was sure he had just the right youngsters for me, if only I would give them a chance; all of them had been mistreated by their stepfathers or stepmothers. The Mayor of New York would appreciate it if I would give my personal attention to the bearer of the said letter whom he could vouch93 for in every way -but why the hell he didn't give said bearer a job himself was a mystery. Man leaning over my shoulder hands me a slip of paper on which he has just written - "Me understand everything but me no hear the voices." Luther Winifred is standing94 beside him, his tattered95 coat fastened together with safety pins. Luther is two sevenths pure Indian and five sevenths German-American, so he explains. On the Indian side he is a Crow, one of the Crows from Montana. His last job was putting up window shades, but there is no ass10 in his pants and he is ashamed to climb a ladder in front ofa lady. He got out of the hospital the other day and so he is still a little weak, but he is not too weak to carry messages, so he thinks.
And then there is Ferdinand Mish - how could I have forgotten him? He has been waiting in line all morning to get a word with me. I never answered the letters he sent me. Was that just? he asks me blandly96. Of course not. I remember vaguely97 the last letter he sent me from the Cat and Dog Hospital on the Grand Concourse, where he was an attendant. He said he repented98 that he had resigned his post "but it was on account of his father being too strict over him, not giving him any recreation or outside pleasure". "I'm twenty-five now," he wrote, "and I don't think I should ought to be sleeping no more with my father, do you? I know you are said to be a very fine gentleman and I am now self-dependent, so I hope ..." McGovem, the old trusty, is standing by Ferdinand's side waiting for me to give him the sign. He wants to give Ferdinand the bum's rush - he remembers him from five years ago when Ferdinand lay down on the sidewalk in front of the main office in full uniform and threw an epileptic fit. No, shit, I can't do it! I'm going to give him a chance, the poor bastard99. Maybe I'll send him to Chinatown where things are fairly quiet. Meanwhile, while Ferdinand is changing into a uniform in the back room, I'm getting an earful from an orphan100 boy who wants to "help make the company a success". He says that if I give him a chance he'll pray for me every Sunday when he goes to church, except the Sundays when he has to report to his parole officer. He didn't do nothing, it appears. He just pushed the fellow and the fellow fell on his head and got killed. Next:An ex-consul from Gibraltar. Writes a beautiful hand - too beauti- fill. I ask him to see me at the end of the day - something fishy101 about him. Meanwhile Ferdinand's thrown a fit in the dressing102 room. Lucky break! If it had happened in the subway, with a number on his hat and everything, I'd have been canned. Next:
A guy with one arm and mad as hell because McGovem is showing him the door. "What the hell! I'm strong and healthy, ain't I?" he shouts, and to prove it he picks up a chair with his good arm and smashes it to bits. I get back to the desk and there's a telegram lying there for me. I open it. It's from George Blasini, ex-messenger No. 2459 of S.W. office. "I am sorry that I had to quit so soon, but the job was not fitted for my character idleness and I am a true lover of labour and frugality103 but many a time we be unable to control or subdue104 our personal pride." Shit!
In the beginning I was enthusiastic, despite the damper above and the clamps below. I had ideas and I executed them, whether it pleased the vice-president or not. Every ten days or so I was put on the carpet and lectured for having "too big a heart". I never had any money in my pocket but I used other people's money freely. As long as I was the boss I had credit. I gave money away right and left; I gave my clothes away and my linen105, my books, everything that was superfluous106. If I had had the power I would have given the company away to the poor buggers who pestered107 me. If I was asked for a dime108 I gave a half dollar, if I was asked for a dollar I gave five. I didn't give a fuck how much I gave away, because it was easier to borrow and give than to refuse the poor devils. I never saw such an aggregation109 of misery in my life, and I hope I'll never see it again. Men are poor everywhere - they always have been and they always will be. And beneath the terrible poverty there is a flame, usually so low that it is almost invisible. But it is there and if one has the courage to blow on it it can become a conflagration110. I was constantly urged not to be too lenient111, not to be too sentimental112, not to be too charitable. Be firm! Be hard! they cautioned me. Fuck that! I said to myself, I'll be generous, pliant113, forgiving, tolerant, tender. In the beginning I heard every man to the end; if I couldn't give him a job I gave him money, and if I had no money I gave him cigarettes or I gave him courage. But I gave! The effect was dizzying. Nobody can estimate the results of a good deed, of a kind word. I was swamped with gratitude114, with good wishes, with invitations, with pathetic, tender little gifts. If I had had real power, instead of being the fifth wheel on a wagon. God knows what I might have accomplished115. I could have used the Cosmodemonic Telegraph Company of North America as a base to bring all humanity to God; I could have transformed North and South America alike, and the Dominion116 of Canada too. I had the secret in my hand: it was to be generous, to be kind, to be patient. I did the work of five men. I hardly slept for three years. I didn't own a whole shirt and often I was so ashamed of borrowing from my wife, or robbing the kid's bank, that to get the car fare to go to work in the morning I would swindle the blind newspaperman at the subway station. I owed so much money all around that if I were to work for twenty years I would not have been able to pay it back. I took from those who had and I gave to those who needed, and it was the right thing to do, and I would do it all over again if I were in the same position
I even accomplished the miracle of stopping the crazy turnover117, something that nobody had dared to hope for. Instead of supporting my efforts they undermined me. According to the logic of the higher-ups the turnover had ceased because the wages were too high. So they cut the wages. It was like kicking the bottom out of a bucket. The whole edifice118 tumbled, collapsed119 on my hands. And, just as though nothing had happened they insisted that the gaps be plugged up immediately. To soften120 the blow a bit they intimated that I might even increase the percentage of Jews, I might take on a cripple now and then, if he were capable, I might do this and that, all of which they had informed me previously121 was against the code. I was so furious that I took on anything and everything; I would have taken on broncos and gorillas122 if I could have imbued123 them with the modicum124 of intelligence which was necessary to deliver messages. A few days previously there had been only five or six vacancies at dosing time. Now there were three hundred, four hundred, five hundred - they were running out like sand. It was marvellous. I sat there and without asking a question I took them on in carload lots - niggers, Jews, paralytics, cripples, ex-convicts, whores, maniacs125, perverts126, idiots, any fucking bastard who could stand on two legs and hold a telegram in his hand. The managers of the hundred and one offices were frightened to death. I laughed. I laughed all day long thinking what a fine stinking127 mess I was making of it Complaints were pouring in from all parts of the city. The service was crippled, constipated, strangulated. A mule128 could have gotten there faster than some of the idiots I put into harness.
The best thing about the new day was the introduction of female messengers. It changed the whole atmosphere of the joint. For Hymie especially it was a godsend. He moved his switchboard around so that he could watch me while juggling129 the waybills back and forth130. Despite the added work he had a permanent erection. He came to work with a smile and he smiled all day long. He was in heaven. At the end of the day I always had a list of five or six who were worth trying out. The game was to keep them on the string, to promise them a job but to get a free fuck first. Usually it was only necessary to throw a feed into them in order to bring them back to the office at night and lay them out on the zinc-covered table in the dressing room. If they had a cosy131 apartment, as they sometimes did, we took them home and finished it in bed. If they liked to drink Hymie would bring a bottle along. If they were any good and really needed some dough132 Hymie would flash his roll and peel off a five spot or a ten spot as the case might be. It makes my mouth water when I think of that roll he carried about with him. Where he got it from I never knew, because he was the lowest paid man in the joint. But it was always there, and no matter what I asked for I got. And once it happened that we did get a bonus and I paid Hymie back to the last penny - which so amazed him that he took me out that night to Delmonico's and spent a fortune on me. Not only that, but the next day he insisted on buying me hat and shirts and gloves. He even insinuated133 that I might come home and fuck his wife, if I liked, though he warned me that she was having a little trouble at present with her ovaries.
In addition to Hymie and McGovem I had as assistants a pair of beautiful blondes who often accompanied us to dinner in the evening. And there was O'Mara, an old friend of mine who had just returned from the Philippines and whom I made my chief assistant. There was also Steve Romero, a prize bull whom I kept around in case of trouble. And O'Rourke, the company detective, who reported to me at the dose of day when he began his work. Finally I added another man to the staff - Kronski, a young medical student, who was diabolically134 interested in the pathological cases of which we had plenty. We were a merry crew, united in our desire to fuck the company at all costs. And while fucking the company we fucked everything in sight that we could get hold of, O'Rourke excepted, as he had a certain dignity to maintain, and besides he had trouble with his prostate and had lost all interest in fucking. But O'Rourke was a prince of a man, and generous beyond words. It was O'Rourke who often invited us to dinner in the evening and it was O'Rourke we went to when we were in trouble.
That was how it stood at Sunset Place after a couple of years had rolled by. I was saturated135 with humanity, with experiences of one kind and another. In my sober moments I made notes which I intended to make use of later if ever I should have a chance to record my experiences. I was waiting for a breathing spell. And then by chance one day, when I had been put on the carpet for some wanton piece of negligence136, the vice-president let drop a phrase which stuck in my crop. He had said that he would like to see some one write a sort of Horatio Alger book about the messengers; he hinted that perhaps I might be the one to do such a job. I was furious to think what a ninny he was and delighted at the same time because secretly I was itching137 to get the thing off my chest. I thought to myself- you poor old futzer, you, just wait until I get it off my chest... I'll give you an Horatio Alger book .. . just you wait! My head was in a whirl leaving his office. I saw the army of men, women and children that had passed through my hands, saw them weeping, begging, beseeching138, imploring139, cursing, spitting, fuming140, threatening. I saw the tracks they left on the highways, the freight trains lying on the floor, the parents in rags, the coal box empty, the sink running over, the walls sweating and between the cold beads141 of sweat the cockroaches142 running like mad; I saw them hobbling along like twisted gnomes143 or falling backwards144 in the epileptic frenzy145, the mouth twitching146, thesaliva pouring from the lips, the limbs writhing147; I saw the walls giving way and the pest pouring out like a winged fluid, and the men higher up with their ironclad logic, waiting for it to blow over, waiting for everything to be patched up, waiting, waiting contentedly148, smugly, with big cigars in their mouths and their feet on the desk, saying things were temporarily out of order. I saw the Horatio Alger hero, the dream of a sick American, mounting higher and -higher, first messenger, then operator, then manager, then chief, then superintendent149, then vice-president, then president, then trust magnate, then beer baron150, then Lord of all the Americas, the money god, the god of gods, the clay of clay, nullity on high, zero with ninety-seven thousand decimals fore28 and aft. You shits, I said to myself, I will give you the picture of twelve little men, zeros without decimals, ciphers151, digits152, the twelve uncrushable worms who are hollowing out the base of your rotten edifice. I will give you Horatio Alger as he looks the day after the Apocalypse, when all the stink has cleared away.
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killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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bankruptcy
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| n.破产；无偿付能力 | |
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federation
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| n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会 | |
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desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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demon
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| n.魔鬼，恶魔 | |
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ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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ass
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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liar
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| n.说谎的人 | |
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sneer
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| v.轻蔑；嘲笑；n.嘲笑，讥讽的言语 | |
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14
rankled
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| v.（使）痛苦不已，（使）怨恨不已( rankle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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15
miller
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| n.磨坊主 | |
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16
cubicles
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| n.小卧室，斗室( cubicle的名词复数 ) | |
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17
adroitly
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| adv.熟练地，敏捷地 | |
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18
crumb
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| n.饼屑，面包屑，小量 | |
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19
justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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20
formulating
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| v.构想出( formulate的现在分词 )；规划；确切地阐述；用公式表示 | |
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21
dome
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| n.圆屋顶，拱顶 | |
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22
wheedle
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| v.劝诱，哄骗 | |
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23
adept
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| adj.老练的，精通的 | |
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24
insinuate
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| vt.含沙射影地说，暗示 | |
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25
usurped
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| 篡夺，霸占( usurp的过去式和过去分词 )； 盗用； 篡夺，篡权 | |
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26
prerogative
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| n.特权 | |
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27
bums
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| 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 | |
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28
fore
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| adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部 | |
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29
apprenticeship
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| n.学徒身份；学徒期 | |
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30
sundry
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| adj.各式各样的，种种的 | |
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31
joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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32
tempting
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| a.诱人的, 吸引人的 | |
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33
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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34
farce
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| n.闹剧，笑剧，滑稽戏；胡闹 | |
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35
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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36
inhuman
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| adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的 | |
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37
corrupt
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| v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的 | |
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38
wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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39
perch
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| n.栖木，高位，杆；v.栖息，就位，位于 | |
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40
alphabetically
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|
| adv.照字母顺序排列地 | |
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41
statistically
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| ad.根据统计数据来看，从统计学的观点来看 | |
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42
lone
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| adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的 | |
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43
foul
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|
| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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44
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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45
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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46
artistically
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| adv.艺术性地 | |
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47
logic
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| n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性 | |
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48
stink
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| vi.发出恶臭；糟透，招人厌恶；n.恶臭 | |
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49
corps
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| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
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50
sewer
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| n.排水沟，下水道 | |
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51
stank
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| n. (英)坝，堰，池塘 动词stink的过去式 | |
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52
trench
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| n./v.(挖)沟，(挖)战壕 | |
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53
ousted
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| 驱逐( oust的过去式和过去分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺 | |
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54
croaked
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| v.呱呱地叫( croak的过去式和过去分词 )；用粗的声音说 | |
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55
applicant
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| n.申请人，求职者，请求者 | |
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56
applicants
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| 申请人，求职人( applicant的名词复数 ) | |
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57
literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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58
barricade
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|
| n.路障，栅栏，障碍；vt.设路障挡住 | |
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59
bawling
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| v.大叫，大喊( bawl的现在分词 )；放声大哭；大声叫出；叫卖（货物） | |
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60
vacancies
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| n.空房间( vacancy的名词复数 )；空虚；空白；空缺 | |
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61
batch
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| n.一批(组，群)；一批生产量 | |
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62
grilling
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| v.烧烤( grill的现在分词 )；拷问，盘问 | |
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63
crook
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| v.使弯曲；n.小偷，骗子，贼；弯曲(处) | |
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64
ledgers
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| n.分类账( ledger的名词复数 ) | |
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65
brawl
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| n.大声争吵，喧嚷；v.吵架，对骂 | |
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66
perversion
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| n.曲解；堕落；反常 | |
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67
idiocy
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| n.愚蠢 | |
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68
stickler
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| n.坚持细节之人 | |
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69
etiquette
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| n.礼仪，礼节；规矩 | |
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70
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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71
revolving
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|
| adj.旋转的，轮转式的；循环的v.（使）旋转( revolve的现在分词 )；细想 | |
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72
mechanism
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| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
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73
justifiable
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| adj.有理由的，无可非议的 | |
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74
ammunition
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| n.军火，弹药 | |
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75
trenches
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|
| 深沟，地沟( trench的名词复数 )； 战壕 | |
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76
cathartic
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|
| adj.宣泄情绪的；n.泻剂 | |
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77
mythical
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|
| adj.神话的；虚构的；想像的 | |
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78
tangible
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|
| adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的 | |
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79
shuffle
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| n.拖著脚走，洗纸牌；v.拖曳，慢吞吞地走 | |
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80
labyrinths
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|
| 迷宫( labyrinth的名词复数 )； （文字，建筑）错综复杂的 | |
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81
skyscrapers
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| n.摩天大楼 | |
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82
coma
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| n.昏迷，昏迷状态 | |
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83
preservative
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| n.防腐剂；防腐料；保护料；预防药 | |
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84
slate
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|
| n.板岩，石板，石片，石板色，候选人名单；adj.暗蓝灰色的，含板岩的；vt.用石板覆盖，痛打，提名，预订 | |
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85
alibi
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| n.某人当时不在犯罪现场的申辩或证明；借口 | |
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86
sleet
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| n.雨雪；v.下雨雪，下冰雹 | |
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87
shuffling
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| adj. 慢慢移动的, 滑移的 动词shuffle的现在分词形式 | |
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88
ragged
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|
| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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89
overdue
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| adj.过期的，到期未付的；早该有的，迟到的 | |
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90
wrangles
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|
| n.（尤指长时间的）激烈争吵，口角，吵嘴( wrangle的名词复数 )v.争吵，争论，口角( wrangle的第三人称单数 ) | |
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91
morale
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| n.道德准则，士气，斗志 | |
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92
runaway
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| n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的 | |
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93
vouch
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| v.担保；断定；n.被担保者 | |
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94
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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95
tattered
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| adj.破旧的，衣衫破的 | |
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96
blandly
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| adv.温和地，殷勤地 | |
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97
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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98
repented
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| 对（自己的所为）感到懊悔或忏悔( repent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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99
bastard
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| n.坏蛋，混蛋；私生子 | |
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100
orphan
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| n.孤儿；adj.无父母的 | |
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101
fishy
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| adj. 值得怀疑的 | |
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102
dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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103
frugality
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| n.节约，节俭 | |
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104
subdue
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| vt.制服，使顺从，征服；抑制，克制 | |
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105
linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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106
superfluous
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| adj.过多的，过剩的，多余的 | |
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107
pestered
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| 使烦恼，纠缠( pester的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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108
dime
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| n.（指美国、加拿大的钱币）一角 | |
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109
aggregation
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| n.聚合，组合；凝聚 | |
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110
conflagration
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| n.建筑物或森林大火 | |
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111
lenient
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| adj.宽大的，仁慈的 | |
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112
sentimental
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| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
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113
pliant
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| adj.顺从的；可弯曲的 | |
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114
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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115
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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116
dominion
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| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
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117
turnover
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| n.人员流动率，人事变动率；营业额，成交量 | |
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118
edifice
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| n.宏伟的建筑物(如宫殿，教室) | |
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119
collapsed
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| adj.倒塌的 | |
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120
soften
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| v.(使)变柔软；(使)变柔和 | |
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121
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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122
gorillas
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| n.大猩猩( gorilla的名词复数 )；暴徒，打手 | |
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123
imbued
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| v.使（某人/某事）充满或激起（感情等）( imbue的过去式和过去分词 )；使充满；灌输；激发（强烈感情或品质等） | |
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124
modicum
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| n.少量，一小份 | |
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125
maniacs
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| n.疯子（maniac的复数形式） | |
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126
perverts
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| n.性变态者( pervert的名词复数 )v.滥用( pervert的第三人称单数 )；腐蚀；败坏；使堕落 | |
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127
stinking
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| adj.臭的，烂醉的，讨厌的v.散发出恶臭( stink的现在分词 )；发臭味；名声臭；糟透 | |
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128
mule
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| n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人 | |
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129
juggling
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| n. 欺骗, 杂耍(=jugglery) adj. 欺骗的, 欺诈的 动词juggle的现在分词 | |
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130
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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131
cosy
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| adj.温暖而舒适的，安逸的 | |
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132
dough
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| n.生面团；钱，现款 | |
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133
insinuated
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| v.暗示( insinuate的过去式和过去分词 )；巧妙或迂回地潜入；（使）缓慢进入；慢慢伸入 | |
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134
diabolically
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135
saturated
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| a.饱和的，充满的 | |
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136
negligence
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| n.疏忽，玩忽，粗心大意 | |
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137
itching
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| adj.贪得的，痒的，渴望的v.发痒( itch的现在分词 ) | |
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138
beseeching
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| adj.恳求似的v.恳求，乞求（某事物）( beseech的现在分词 ) | |
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139
imploring
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| 恳求的，哀求的 | |
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140
fuming
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|
| 愤怒( fume的现在分词 )； 大怒； 发怒； 冒烟 | |
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141
beads
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| n.（空心）小珠子( bead的名词复数 )；水珠；珠子项链 | |
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142
cockroaches
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| n.蟑螂( cockroach的名词复数 ) | |
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143
gnomes
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| n.矮子( gnome的名词复数 )；侏儒；（尤指金融市场上搞投机的）银行家；守护神 | |
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144
backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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145
frenzy
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| n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动 | |
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146
twitching
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| n.颤搐 | |
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147
writhing
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| （因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的现在分词 ) | |
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148
contentedly
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| adv.心满意足地 | |
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149
superintendent
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| n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长 | |
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150
baron
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| n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王 | |
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151
ciphers
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| n.密码( cipher的名词复数 )；零；不重要的人；无价值的东西 | |
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152
digits
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| n.数字( digit的名词复数 )；手指，足趾 | |
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