The lift of the water-spout had saved John Rex’s life. At the moment when it struck him he was on his hands and knees at the entrance of the cavern1. The wave, gushing2 upwards3, at the same time expanded, laterally5, and this lateral4 force drove the convict into the mouth of the subterranean6 passage. The passage trended downwards7, and for some seconds he was rolled over and over, the rush of water wedging him at length into a crevice8 between two enormous stones, which overhung a still more formidable abyss. Fortunately for the preservation9 of his hard-fought-for life, this very fury of incoming water prevented him from being washed out again with the recoil10 of the wave. He could hear the water dashing with frightful11 echoes far down into the depths beyond him, but it was evident that the two stones against which he had been thrust acted as breakwaters to the torrent12 poured in from the outside, and repelled13 the main body of the stream in the fashion he had observed from his position on the ledge14. In a few seconds the cavern was empty.
Painfully extricating15 himself, and feeling as yet doubtful of his safety, John Rex essayed to climb the twin-blocks that barred the unknown depths below him. The first movement he made caused him to shriek16 aloud. His left arm — with which he clung to the rope — hung powerless. Ground against the ragged17 entrance, it was momentarily paralysed. For an instant the unfortunate wretch18 sank despairingly on the wet and rugged19 floor of the cave; then a terrible gurgling beneath his feet warned him of the approaching torrent, and, collecting all his energies, he scrambled20 up the incline. Though nigh fainting with pain and exhaustion21, he pressed desperately22 higher and higher. He heard the hideous23 shriek of the whirlpool which was beneath him grow louder and louder. He saw the darkness grow darker as the rising water-spout covered the mouth of the cave. He felt the salt spray sting his face, and the wrathful tide lick the hand that hung over the shelf on which he fell. But that was all. He was out of danger at last! And as the thought blessed his senses, his eyes closed, and the wonderful courage and strength which had sustained the villain24 so long exhaled25 in stupor26.
When he awoke the cavern was filled with the soft light of dawn. Raising his eyes, he beheld27, high above his head, a roof of rock, on which the reflection of the sunbeams, playing upwards through a pool of water, cast flickering28 colours. On his right hand was the mouth of the cave, on his left a terrific abyss, at the bottom of which he could hear the sea faintly lapping and washing. He raised himself and stretched his stiffened29 limbs. Despite his injured shoulder, it was imperative30 that he should bestir himself. He knew not if his escape had been noticed, or if the cavern had another inlet, by which McNab, returning, might penetrate32. Moreover, he was wet and famished33. To preserve the life which he had torn from the sea, he must have fire and food. First he examined the crevice by which he had entered. It was shaped like an irregular triangle, hollowed at the base by the action of the water which in such storms as that of the preceding night was forced into it by the rising of the sea. John Rex dared not crawl too near the edge, lest he should slide out of the damp and slippery orifice, and be dashed upon the rocks at the bottom of the Blow-hole. Craning his neck, he could see, a hundred feet below him, the sullenly34 frothing water, gurgling, spouting35, and creaming, in huge turbid36 eddies37, occasionally leaping upwards as though it longed for another storm to send it raging up to the man who had escaped its fury. It was impossible to get down that way. He turned back into the cavern, and began to explore in that direction. The twin-rocks against which he had been hurled38 were, in fact, pillars which supported the roof of the water-drive. Beyond them lay a great grey shadow which was emptiness, faintly illumined by the sea-light cast up through the bottom of the gulf39. Midway across the grey shadow fell a strange beam of dusky brilliance40, which cast its flickering light upon a wilderness41 of waving sea-weeds. Even in the desperate position in which he found himself, there survived in the vagabond’s nature sufficient poetry to make him value the natural marvel42 upon which he had so strangely stumbled. The immense promontory43, which, viewed from the outside, seemed as solid as a mountain, was in reality but a hollow cone44, reft and split into a thousand fissures45 by the unsuspected action of the sea for centuries. The Blow-hole was but an insignificant46 cranny compared with this enormous chasm47. Descending49 with difficulty the steep incline, he found himself on the brink50 of a gallery of rock, which, jutting51 out over the pool, bore on its moist and weed-bearded edges signs of frequent submersion. It must be low tide without the rock. Clinging to the rough and root-like algae52 that fringed the ever-moist walls, John Rex crept round the projection53 of the gallery, and passed at once from dimness to daylight. There was a broad loop-hole in the side of the honey-combed and wave-perforated cliff. The cloudless heaven expanded above him; a fresh breeze kissed his cheek and, sixty feet below him, the sea wrinkled all its lazy length, sparkling in myriad54 wavelets beneath the bright beams of morning. Not a sign of the recent tempest marred55 the exquisite56 harmony of the picture. Not a sign of human life gave evidence of the grim neighbourhood of the prison. From the recess57 out of which he peered nothing was visible but a sky of turquoise58 smiling upon a sea of sapphire59.
The placidity60 of Nature was, however, to the hunted convict a new source of alarm. It was a reason why the Blow-hole and its neighbourhood should be thoroughly61 searched. He guessed that the favourable62 weather would be an additional inducement to McNab and Burgess to satisfy themselves as to the fate of their late prisoner. He turned from the opening, and prepared to descend48 still farther into the rock pathway. The sunshine had revived and cheered him, and a sort of instinct told him that the cliff, so honey-combed above, could not be without some gully or chink at its base, which at low tide would give upon the rocky shore. It grew darker as he descended63, and twice he almost turned back in dread64 of the gulfs on either side of him. It seemed to him, also, that the gullet of weed-clad rock through which he was crawling doubled upon itself, and led only into the bowels65 of the mountain. Gnawed66 by hunger, and conscious that in a few hours at most the rising tide would fill the subterranean passage and cut off his retreat, he pushed desperately onwards. He had descended some ninety feet, and had lost, in the devious67 windings68 of his downward path, all but the reflection of the light from the gallery, when he was rewarded by a glimpse of sunshine striking upwards. He parted two enormous masses of seaweed, whose bubble-headed fronds69 hung curtainwise across his path, and found himself in the very middle of the narrow cleft70 of rock through which the sea was driven to the Blow-hole.
At an immense distance above him was the arch of cliff. Beyond that arch appeared a segment of the ragged edge of the circular opening, down which he had fallen. He looked in vain for the funnel-mouth whose friendly shelter had received him. It was now indistinguishable. At his feet was a long rift71 in the solid rock, so narrow that he could almost have leapt across it. This rift was the channel of a swift black current which ran from the sea for fifty yards under an arch eight feet high, until it broke upon the jagged rocks that lay blistering72 in the sunshine at the bottom of the circular opening in the upper cliff. A shudder73 shook the limbs of the adventurous75 convict. He comprehended that at high tide the place where he stood was under water, and that the narrow cavern became a subaqueous pipe of solid rock forty feet long, through which were spouted76 the league-long rollers of the Southern Sea.
The narrow strip of rock at the base of the cliff was as flat as a table. Here and there were enormous hollows like pans, which the retreating tide had left full of clear, still water. The crannies of the rock were inhabited by small white crabs77, and John Rex found to his delight that there was on this little shelf abundance of mussels, which, though lean and acrid78, were sufficiently79 grateful to his famished stomach. Attached to the flat surfaces of the numerous stones, moreover, were coarse limpets. These, however, John Rex found too salt to be palatable81, and was compelled to reject them. A larger variety, however, having a succulent body as thick as a man’s thumb, contained in long razor-shaped shells, were in some degree free from this objection, and he soon collected the materials for a meal. Having eaten and sunned himself, he began to examine the enormous rock, to the base of which he had so strangely penetrated82. Rugged and worn, it raised its huge breast against wind and wave, secure upon a broad pedestal, which probably extended as far beneath the sea as the massive column itself rose above it. Rising thus, with its shaggy drapery of seaweed clinging about its knees, it seemed to be a motionless but sentient83 being — some monster of the deep, a Titan of the ocean condemned84 ever to front in silence the fury of that illimitable and rarely-travelled sea. Yet — silent and motionless as he was — the hoary85 ancient gave hint of the mysteries of his revenge. Standing86 upon the broad and sea-girt platform where surely no human foot but his had ever stood in life, the convict saw, many feet above him, pitched into a cavity of the huge sun-blistered boulders87, an object which his sailor eye told him at once was part of the top hamper88 of some large ship. Crusted with shells, and its ruin so overrun with the ivy89 of the ocean that its ropes could barely be distinguished90 from the weeds with which they were encumbered91, this relic92 of human labour attested93 the triumph of nature over human ingenuity94. Perforated below by the relentless95 sea, exposed above to the full fury of the tempest; set in solitary96 defiance97 to the waves, that rolling from the ice-volcano of the Southern Pole, hurled their gathered might unchecked upon its iron front, the great rock drew from its lonely warfare98 the materials of its own silent vengeance99. Clasped in iron arms, it held its prey100, snatched from the jaws101 of the all-devouring sea. One might imagine that, when the doomed103 ship, with her crew of shrieking104 souls, had splintered and gone down, the deaf, blind giant had clutched this fragment, upheaved from the seething105 waters, with a thrill of savage106 and terrible joy.
John Rex, gazing up at this memento107 of a forgotten agony, felt a sensation of the most vulgar pleasure. “There’s wood for my fire!” thought he; and mounting to the spot, he essayed to fling down the splinters of timber upon the platform. Long exposed to the sun, and flung high above the water-mark of recent storms, the timber had dried to the condition of touchwood, and would burn fiercely. It was precisely108 what he required. Strange accident that had for years stored, upon a desolate109 rock, this fragment of a vanished and long-forgotten vessel110, that it might aid at last to warm the limbs of a villain escaping from justice!
Striking the disintegrated111 mass with his iron-shod heel, John Rex broke off convenient portions; and making a bag of his shirt by tying the sleeves and neck, he was speedily staggering into the cavern with a supply of fuel. He made two trips, flinging down the wood on the floor of the gallery that overlooked the sea, and was returning for a third, when his quick ear caught the dip of oars80. He had barely time to lift the seaweed curtain that veiled the entrance to the chasm, when the Eaglehawk boat rounded the promontory. Burgess was in the stern-sheets, and seemed to be making signals to someone on the top of the cliff. Rex, grinning behind his veil, divined the manoeuvre112. McNab and his party were to search above, while the Commandant examined the gulf below. The boat headed direct for the passage, and for an instant John Rex’s undaunted soul shivered at the thought that, perhaps, after all, his pursuers might be aware of the existence of the cavern. Yet that was unlikely. He kept his ground, and the boat passed within a foot of him, gliding113 silently into the gulf. He observed that Burgess’s usually florid face was pale, and that his left sleeve was cut open, showing a bandage on the arm. There had been some fighting, then, and it was not unlikely that all his fellow-desperadoes had been captured! He chuckled114 at his own ingenuity and good sense. The boat, emerging from the archway, entered the pool of the Blow-hole, and, held with the full strength of the party, remained stationary115. John Rex watched Burgess scan the rocks and eddies, saw him signal to McNab, and then, with much relief, beheld the boat’s head brought round to the sea-board.
He was so intent upon watching this dangerous and difficult operation that he was oblivious116 of an extraordinary change which had taken place in the interior of the cavern. The water which, an hour ago, had left exposed a long reef of black hummock117-rocks, was now spread in one foam-flecked sheet over the ragged bottom of the rude staircase by which he had descended. The tide had turned, and the sea, apparently118 sucked in through some deeper tunnel in the portion of the cliff which was below water, was being forced into the vault119 with a rapidity which bid fair to shortly submerge the mouth of the cave. The convict’s feet were already wetted by the incoming waves, and as he turned for one last look at the boat he saw a green billow heave up against the entrance to the chasm, and, almost blotting120 out the daylight, roll majestically121 through the arch. It was high time for Burgess to take his departure if he did not wish his whale-boat to be cracked like a nut against the roof of the tunnel. Alive to his danger, the Commandant abandoned the search after his late prisoner’s corpse122, and he hastened to gain the open sea. The boat, carried backwards123 and upwards on the bosom124 of a monstrous125 wave, narrowly escaped destruction, and John Rex, climbing to the gallery, saw with much satisfaction the broad back of his out-witted gaoler disappear round the sheltering promontory. The last efforts of his pursuers had failed, and in another hour the only accessible entrance to the convict’s retreat was hidden under three feet of furious seawater.
His gaolers were convinced of his death, and would search for him no more. So far, so good. Now for the last desperate venture — the escape from the wonderful cavern which was at once his shelter and his prison. Piling his wood together, and succeeding after many efforts, by the aid of a flint and the ring which yet clung to his ankle, in lighting126 a fire, and warming his chilled limbs in its cheering blaze, he set himself to meditate127 upon his course of action. He was safe for the present, and the supply of food that the rock afforded was amply sufficient to sustain life in him for many days, but it was impossible that he could remain for many days concealed128. He had no fresh water, and though, by reason of the soaking he had received, he had hitherto felt little inconvenience from this cause, the salt and acrid mussels speedily induced a raging thirst, which he could not alleviate129. It was imperative that within forty-eight hours at farthest he should be on his way to the peninsula. He remembered the little stream into which — in his flight of the previous night — he had so nearly fallen, and hoped to be able, under cover of the darkness, to steal round the reef and reach it unobserved. His desperate scheme was then to commence. He had to run the gauntlet of the dogs and guards, gain the peninsula, and await the rescuing vessel. He confessed to himself that the chances were terribly against him. If Gabbett and the others had been recaptured — as he devoutly130 trusted — the coast would be comparatively clear; but if they had escaped, he knew Burgess too well to think that he would give up the chase while hope of re-taking the absconders remained to him. If indeed all fell out as he had wished, he had still to sustain life until Blunt found him — if haply Blunt had not returned, wearied with useless and dangerous waiting.
As night came on, and the firelight showed strange shadows waving from the corners of the enormous vault, while the dismal131 abysses beneath him murmured and muttered with uncouth132 and ghastly utterance133, there fell upon the lonely man the terror of Solitude134. Was this marvellous hiding-place that he had discovered to be his sepulchre? Was he — a monster amongst his fellow-men — to die some monstrous death, entombed in this mysterious and terrible cavern of the sea? He had tried to drive away these gloomy thoughts by sketching135 out for himself a plan of action — but in vain. In vain he strove to picture in its completeness that — as yet vague — design by which he promised himself to wrest136 from the vanished son of the wealthy ship-builder his name and heritage. His mind, filled with forebodings of shadowy horror, could not give the subject the calm consideration which it needed. In the midst of his schemes for the baffling of the jealous love of the woman who was to save him, and the getting to England, in shipwrecked and foreign guise137, as the long-lost heir to the fortune of Sir Richard Devine, there arose ghastly and awesome138 shapes of death and horror, with whose terrible unsubstantiality he must grapple in the lonely recesses139 of that dismal cavern. He heaped fresh wood upon his fire, that the bright light might drive out the gruesome things that lurked141 above, below, and around him. He became afraid to look behind him, lest some shapeless mass of mid-sea birth — some voracious142 polype, with far-reaching arms and jellied mouth ever open to devour102 — might slide up over the edge of the dripping caves below, and fasten upon him in the darkness. His imagination — always sufficiently vivid, and spurred to an unnatural143 effect by the exciting scenes of the previous night — painted each patch of shadow, clinging bat-like to the humid wall, as some globular sea-spider ready to drop upon him with its viscid and clay-cold body, and drain out his chilled blood, enfolding him in rough and hairy arms. Each splash in the water beneath him, each sigh of the multitudinous and melancholy144 sea, seemed to prelude145 the laborious146 advent74 of some mis-shapen and ungainly abortion147 of the ooze148. All the sensations induced by lapping water and regurgitating waves took material shape and surrounded him. All creatures that could be engendered149 by slime and salt crept forth150 into the firelight to stare at him. Red dabs151 and splashes that were living beings, having a strange phosphoric light of their own, glowed upon the floor. The livid encrustations of a hundred years of humidity slipped from off the walls and painfully heaved their mushroom surfaces to the blaze. The red glow of the unwonted fire, crimsoning152 the wet sides of the cavern, seemed to attract countless153 blisterous and transparent154 shapelessnesses, which elongated155 themselves towards him. Bloodless and bladdery things ran hither and thither156 noiselessly. Strange carapaces157 crawled from out of the rocks. All the horrible unseen life of the ocean seemed to be rising up and surrounding him. He retreated to the brink of the gulf, and the glare of the upheld brand fell upon a rounded hummock, whose coronal of silky weed out-floating in the water looked like the head of a drowned man. He rushed to the entrance of the gallery, and his shadow, thrown into the opening, took the shape of an avenging158 phantom159, with arms upraised to warn him back. The naturalist160, the explorer, or the shipwrecked seaman161 would have found nothing frightful in this exhibition of the harmless life of the Australian ocean. But the convict’s guilty conscience, long suppressed and derided162, asserted itself in this hour when it was alone with Nature and Night. The bitter intellectual power which had so long supported him succumbed163 beneath imagination — the unconscious religion of the soul. If ever he was nigh repentance164 it was then. Phantoms165 of his past crimes gibbered at him, and covering his eyes with his hands, he fell shuddering166 upon his knees. The brand, loosening from his grasp, dropped into the gulf, and was extinguished with a hissing167 noise. As if the sound had called up some spirit that lurked below, a whisper ran through the cavern.
“John Rex!” The hair on the convict’s flesh stood up, and he cowered168 to the earth.
“John Rex?”
It was a human voice! Whether of friend or enemy he did not pause to think. His terror over-mastered all other considerations.
“Here! here!” he cried, and sprang to the opening of the vault.
Arrived at the foot of the cliff, Blunt and Staples169 found themselves in almost complete darkness, for the light of the mysterious fire, which had hitherto guided them, had necessarily disappeared. Calm as was the night, and still as was the ocean, the sea yet ran with silent but dangerous strength through the channel which led to the Blow-hole; and Blunt, instinctively170 feeling the boat drawn171 towards some unknown peril172, held off the shelf of rocks out of reach of the current. A sudden flash of fire, as from a flourished brand, burst out above them, and floating downwards through the darkness, in erratic173 circles, came an atom of burning wood. Surely no one but a hunted man would lurk140 in such a savage retreat.
Blunt, in desperate anxiety, determined174 to risk all upon one venture. “John Rex!” he shouted up through his rounded hands. The light flashed again at the eye-hole of the mountain, and on the point above them appeared a wild figure, holding in its hands a burning log, whose fierce glow illumined a face so contorted by deadly fear and agony of expectation that it was scarce human.
“Here! here!”
“The poor devil seems half-crazy,” said Will Staples, under his breath; and then aloud, “We’re FRIENDS!” A few moments sufficed to explain matters. The terrors which had oppressed John Rex disappeared in human presence, and the villain’s coolness returned. Kneeling on the rock platform, he held parley175.
“It is impossible for me to come down now,” he said. “The tide covers the only way out of the cavern.”
“Can’t you dive through it?” said Will Staples.
“No, nor you neither,” said Rex, shuddering at the thought of trusting himself to that horrible whirlpool.
“What’s to be done? You can’t come down that wall.” “Wait until morning,” returned Rex coolly. “It will be dead low tide at seven o’clock. You must send a boat at six, or there-abouts. It will be low enough for me to get out, I dare say, by that time.”
“But the Guard?”
“ Won’t come here, my man. They’ve got their work to do in watching the Neck and exploring after my mates. They won’t come here. Besides, I’m dead.”
“Dead!”
“Thought to be so, which is as well — better for me, perhaps. If they don’t see your ship, or your boat, you’re safe enough.”
“I don’t like to risk it,” said Blunt. “It’s Life if we’re caught.”
“It’s Death if I’m caught!” returned the other, with a sinister176 laugh. “But there’s no danger if you are cautious. No one looks for rats in a terrier’s kennel177, and there’s not a station along the beach from here to Cape31 Pillar. Take your vessel out of eye-shot of the Neck, bring the boat up Descent Beach, and the thing’s done.”
“Well,” says Blunt, “I’ll try it.”
“You wouldn’t like to stop here till morning? It is rather lonely,” suggested Rex, absolutely making a jest of his late terrors.
Will Staples laughed. “You’re a bold boy!” said he. “We’ll come at daybreak.”
“Have you got the clothes as I directed?”
“Yes.”
“Then good night. I’ll put my fire out, in case somebody else might see it, who wouldn’t be as kind as you are.”
“Good night.”
“Not a word for the Madam,” said Staples, when they reached the vessel.
“Not a word, the ungrateful dog,” asserted Blunt, adding, with some heat, “That’s the way with women. They’ll go through fire and water for a man that doesn’t care a snap of his fingers for ’em; but for any poor fellow who risks his neck to pleasure ’em they’ve nothing but sneers178! I wish I’d never meddled179 in the business.”
“There are no fools like old fools,” thought Will Staples, looking back through the darkness at the place where the fire had been, but he did not utter his thoughts aloud.
At eight o’clock the next morning the Pretty Mary stood out to sea with every stitch of canvas set, alow and aloft. The skipper’s fishing had come to an end. He had caught a shipwrecked seaman, who had been brought on board at daylight, and was then at breakfast in the cabin. The crew winked180 at each other when the haggard mariner181, attired182 in garments that seemed remarkably183 well preserved, mounted the side. But they, none of them, were in a position to controvert184 the skipper’s statement.
“Where are we bound for?” asked John Rex, smoking Staples’s pipe in lingering puffs185 of delight. “I’m entirely186 in your hands, Blunt.”
“My orders are to cruise about the whaling grounds until I meet my consort,” returned Blunt sullenly, “and put you aboard her. She’ll take you back to Sydney. I’m victualled for a twelve-months’ trip.”
“Right!” cried Rex, clapping his preserver on the back. “I’m bound to get to Sydney somehow; but, as the Philistines187 are abroad, I may as well tarry in Jericho till my beard be grown. Don’t stare at my Scriptural quotation188, Mr. Staples,” he added, inspirited by creature comforts, and secure amid his purchased friends. “I assure you that I’ve had the very best religious instruction. Indeed, it is chiefly owing to my worthy189 spiritual pastor190 and master that I am enabled to smoke this very villainous tobacco of yours at the present moment!”
收听单词发音 |
1
cavern
|
|
| n.洞穴，大山洞 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
gushing
|
|
| adj.迸出的；涌出的；喷出的；过分热情的v.喷，涌( gush的现在分词 )；滔滔不绝地说话 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
upwards
|
|
| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
lateral
|
|
| adj.侧面的，旁边的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
laterally
|
|
| ad.横向地；侧面地；旁边地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
subterranean
|
|
| adj.地下的，地表下的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
downwards
|
|
| adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
crevice
|
|
| n.(岩石、墙等)裂缝；缺口 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
preservation
|
|
| n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
recoil
|
|
| vi.退却，退缩，畏缩 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
frightful
|
|
| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
torrent
|
|
| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
repelled
|
|
| v.击退( repel的过去式和过去分词 )；使厌恶；排斥；推开 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
ledge
|
|
| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
extricating
|
|
| v.使摆脱困难，脱身( extricate的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
shriek
|
|
| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
ragged
|
|
| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
wretch
|
|
| n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
rugged
|
|
| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
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： |
|
|
|
|
21
exhaustion
|
|
| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
desperately
|
|
| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
hideous
|
|
| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
villain
|
|
| n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
exhaled
|
|
| v.呼出，发散出( exhale的过去式和过去分词 )；吐出（肺中的空气、烟等），呼气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
stupor
|
|
| v.昏迷；不省人事 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
beheld
|
|
| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
flickering
|
|
| adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
stiffened
|
|
| 加强的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
imperative
|
|
| n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
cape
|
|
| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
penetrate
|
|
| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
famished
|
|
| adj.饥饿的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
sullenly
|
|
| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
spouting
|
|
| n.水落管系统v.（指液体）喷出( spout的现在分词 )；滔滔不绝地讲；喋喋不休地说；喷水 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
turbid
|
|
| adj.混浊的，泥水的，浓的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
eddies
|
|
| （水、烟等的）漩涡，涡流( eddy的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
hurled
|
|
| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
gulf
|
|
| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
brilliance
|
|
| n.光辉，辉煌，壮丽，（卓越的）才华，才智 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
wilderness
|
|
| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
marvel
|
|
| vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
promontory
|
|
| n.海角；岬 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
cone
|
|
| n.圆锥体，圆锥形东西，球果 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
fissures
|
|
| n.狭长裂缝或裂隙( fissure的名词复数 )；裂伤；分歧；分裂v.裂开( fissure的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
insignificant
|
|
| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
chasm
|
|
| n.深坑，断层，裂口，大分岐，利害冲突 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
descend
|
|
| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
descending
|
|
| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
brink
|
|
| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
jutting
|
|
| v.（使）突出( jut的现在分词 )；伸出；（从…）突出；高出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
algae
|
|
| n.水藻，海藻 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
projection
|
|
| n.发射，计划，突出部分 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
myriad
|
|
| adj.无数的；n.无数，极大数量 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
marred
|
|
| adj. 被损毁, 污损的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
exquisite
|
|
| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
recess
|
|
| n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
turquoise
|
|
| n.绿宝石；adj.蓝绿色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
sapphire
|
|
| n.青玉，蓝宝石；adj.天蓝色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
placidity
|
|
| n.平静，安静，温和 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
thoroughly
|
|
| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
favourable
|
|
| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
descended
|
|
| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
dread
|
|
| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
bowels
|
|
| n.肠，内脏，内部；肠( bowel的名词复数 )；内部，最深处 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
gnawed
|
|
| 咬( gnaw的过去式和过去分词 )； （长时间） 折磨某人； （使）苦恼； （长时间）危害某事物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
devious
|
|
| adj.不坦率的，狡猾的；迂回的，曲折的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
windings
|
|
| （道路、河流等）蜿蜒的，弯曲的( winding的名词复数 )； 缠绕( wind的现在分词 )； 卷绕； 转动（把手） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
fronds
|
|
| n.蕨类或棕榈类植物的叶子( frond的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
cleft
|
|
| n.裂缝；adj.裂开的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
rift
|
|
| n.裂口，隙缝，切口；v.裂开，割开，渗入 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
blistering
|
|
| adj.酷热的；猛烈的；使起疱的；可恶的v.起水疱；起气泡；使受暴晒n.[涂料] 起泡 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
shudder
|
|
| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
advent
|
|
| n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
adventurous
|
|
| adj.爱冒险的；惊心动魄的，惊险的，刺激的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
spouted
|
|
| adj.装有嘴的v.（指液体）喷出( spout的过去式和过去分词 )；滔滔不绝地讲；喋喋不休地说；喷水 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
crabs
|
|
| n.蟹( crab的名词复数 )；阴虱寄生病；蟹肉v.捕蟹( crab的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
acrid
|
|
| adj.辛辣的，尖刻的，刻薄的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
sufficiently
|
|
| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
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： |
|
|
|
|
81
palatable
|
|
| adj.可口的，美味的；惬意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
penetrated
|
|
| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
sentient
|
|
| adj.有知觉的，知悉的；adv.有感觉能力地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
condemned
|
|
| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
hoary
|
|
| adj.古老的；鬓发斑白的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
boulders
|
|
| n.卵石( boulder的名词复数 )；巨砾；（受水或天气侵蚀而成的）巨石；漂砾 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
hamper
|
|
| vt.妨碍，束缚，限制；n.(有盖的)大篮子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
ivy
|
|
| n.常青藤，常春藤 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
distinguished
|
|
| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
91
encumbered
|
|
| v.妨碍，阻碍，拖累( encumber的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
relic
|
|
| n.神圣的遗物，遗迹，纪念物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
93
attested
|
|
| adj.经检验证明无病的，经检验证明无菌的v.证明( attest的过去式和过去分词 )；证实；声称…属实；使宣誓 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
94
ingenuity
|
|
| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
95
relentless
|
|
| adj.残酷的，不留情的，无怜悯心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
96
solitary
|
|
| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
97
defiance
|
|
| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
98
warfare
|
|
| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
99
vengeance
|
|
| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
100
prey
|
|
| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
101
jaws
|
|
| n.口部；嘴 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
102
devour
|
|
| v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
103
doomed
|
|
| 命定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
104
shrieking
|
|
| v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
105
seething
|
|
| 沸腾的，火热的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
106
savage
|
|
| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
107
memento
|
|
| n.纪念品，令人回忆的东西 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
108
precisely
|
|
| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
109
desolate
|
|
| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
110
vessel
|
|
| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
111
disintegrated
|
|
| v.（使）破裂[分裂，粉碎]，（使）崩溃( disintegrate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
112
manoeuvre
|
|
| n.策略，调动；v.用策略，调动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
113
gliding
|
|
| v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
114
chuckled
|
|
| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
115
stationary
|
|
| adj.固定的，静止不动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
116
oblivious
|
|
| adj.易忘的，遗忘的，忘却的，健忘的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
117
hummock
|
|
| n.小丘 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
118
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
119
vault
|
|
| n.拱形圆顶，地窖，地下室 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
120
blotting
|
|
| 吸墨水纸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
121
majestically
|
|
| 雄伟地； 庄重地； 威严地； 崇高地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
122
corpse
|
|
| n.尸体，死尸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
123
backwards
|
|
| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
124
bosom
|
|
| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
125
monstrous
|
|
| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
126
lighting
|
|
| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
127
meditate
|
|
| v.想，考虑，（尤指宗教上的）沉思，冥想 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
128
concealed
|
|
| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
129
alleviate
|
|
| v.减轻，缓和，缓解(痛苦等) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
130
devoutly
|
|
| adv.虔诚地，虔敬地，衷心地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
131
dismal
|
|
| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
132
uncouth
|
|
| adj.无教养的，粗鲁的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
133
utterance
|
|
| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
134
solitude
|
|
| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
135
sketching
|
|
| n.草图 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
136
wrest
|
|
| n.扭，拧，猛夺；v.夺取，猛扭，歪曲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
137
guise
|
|
| n.外表，伪装的姿态 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
138
awesome
|
|
| adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
139
recesses
|
|
| n.壁凹( recess的名词复数 )；（工作或业务活动的）中止或暂停期间；学校的课间休息；某物内部的凹形空间v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的第三人称单数 )；将（墙）做成凹形，在（墙）上做壁龛；休息，休会，休庭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
140
lurk
|
|
| n.潜伏，潜行；v.潜藏，潜伏，埋伏 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
141
lurked
|
|
| vi.潜伏，埋伏（lurk的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
142
voracious
|
|
| adj.狼吞虎咽的，贪婪的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
143
unnatural
|
|
| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
144
melancholy
|
|
| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
145
prelude
|
|
| n.序言，前兆，序曲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
146
laborious
|
|
| adj.吃力的，努力的，不流畅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
147
abortion
|
|
| n.流产，堕胎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
148
ooze
|
|
| n.软泥，渗出物；vi.渗出，泄漏；vt.慢慢渗出，流露 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
149
engendered
|
|
| v.产生（某形势或状况），造成，引起( engender的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
150
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
151
dabs
|
|
| 少许( dab的名词复数 )； 是…能手； 做某事很在行； 在某方面技术熟练 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
152
crimsoning
|
|
| 变为深红色（crimson的现在分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
153
countless
|
|
| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
154
transparent
|
|
| adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
155
elongated
|
|
| v.延长，加长( elongate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
156
thither
|
|
| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
157
carapaces
|
|
| n.（龟、蟹等的）硬壳( carapace的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
158
avenging
|
|
| adj.报仇的，复仇的v.为…复仇，报…之仇( avenge的现在分词 )；为…报复 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
159
phantom
|
|
| n.幻影，虚位，幽灵；adj.错觉的，幻影的，幽灵的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
160
naturalist
|
|
| n.博物学家(尤指直接观察动植物者) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
161
seaman
|
|
| n.海员，水手，水兵 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
162
derided
|
|
| v.取笑，嘲笑( deride的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
163
succumbed
|
|
| 不再抵抗（诱惑、疾病、攻击等）( succumb的过去式和过去分词 )； 屈从； 被压垮； 死 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
164
repentance
|
|
| n.懊悔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
165
phantoms
|
|
| n.鬼怪，幽灵( phantom的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
166
shuddering
|
|
| v.战栗( shudder的现在分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
167
hissing
|
|
| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
168
cowered
|
|
| v.畏缩，抖缩( cower的过去式 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
169
staples
|
|
| n.（某国的）主要产品( staple的名词复数 )；钉书钉；U 形钉；主要部份v.用钉书钉钉住( staple的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
170
instinctively
|
|
| adv.本能地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
171
drawn
|
|
| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
172
peril
|
|
| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
173
erratic
|
|
| adj.古怪的，反复无常的，不稳定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
174
determined
|
|
| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
175
parley
|
|
| n.谈判 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
176
sinister
|
|
| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
177
kennel
|
|
| n.狗舍，狗窝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
178
sneers
|
|
| 讥笑的表情（言语）( sneer的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
179
meddled
|
|
| v.干涉，干预（他人事务）( meddle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
180
winked
|
|
| v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
181
mariner
|
|
| n.水手号不载人航天探测器，海员，航海者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
182
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： |
|
|
|
|
183
remarkably
|
|
| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
184
controvert
|
|
| v.否定；否认 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
185
puffs
|
|
| n.吸( puff的名词复数 )；（烟斗或香烟的）一吸；一缕（烟、蒸汽等）；（呼吸或风的）呼v.使喷出( puff的第三人称单数 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
186
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
187
philistines
|
|
| n.市侩，庸人( philistine的名词复数 )；庸夫俗子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
188
quotation
|
|
| n.引文，引语，语录；报价，牌价，行情 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
189
worthy
|
|
| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
190
pastor
|
|
| n.牧师，牧人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |