“I heard this,” I answered, “and I have never mentioned it to a soul till today. I heard that he was starting for Solomon’s Mines.”
“Solomon’s Mines?” ejaculated both my hearers at once. “Where are they?”
“I don’t know,” I said; “I know where they are said to be. Once I saw the peaks of the mountains that border them, but there were a hundred and thirty miles of desert between me and them, and I am not aware that any white man ever got across it save one. But perhaps the best thing I can do is to tell you the legend of Solomon’s Mines as I know it, you passing your word not to reveal anything I tell you without my permission. Do you agree to that? I have my reasons for asking.”
Sir Henry nodded, and Captain Good replied, “Certainly, certainly.”
“Well,” I began, “as you may guess, generally speaking, elephant hunters are a rough set of men, who do not trouble themselves with much beyond the facts of life and the ways of Kafirs. But here and there you meet a man who takes the trouble to collect traditions from the natives, and tries to make out a little piece of the history of this dark land. It was such a man as this who first told me the legend of Solomon’s Mines, now a matter of nearly thirty years ago. That was when I was on my first elephant hunt in the Matalebe country. His name was Evans, and he was killed the following year, poor fellow, by a wounded buffalo1, and lies buried near the Zambesi Falls. I was telling Evans one night, I remember, of some wonderful workings I had found whilst hunting koodoo and eland in what is now the Lydenburg district of the Transvaal. I see they have come across these workings again lately in prospecting2 for gold, but I knew of them years ago. There is a great wide wagon3 road cut out of the solid rock, and leading to the mouth of the working or gallery. Inside the mouth of this gallery are stacks of gold quartz4 piled up ready for roasting, which shows that the workers, whoever they were, must have left in a hurry. Also, about twenty paces in, the gallery is built across, and a beautiful bit of masonry5 it is.”
“‘Ay,’ said Evans, ‘but I will spin you a queerer yarn6 than that’; and he went on to tell me how he had found in the far interior a ruined city, which he believed to be the Ophir of the Bible, and, by the way, other more learned men have said the same long since poor Evans’s time. I was, I remember, listening open-eared to all these wonders, for I was young at the time, and this story of an ancient civilisation7 and of the treasures which those old Jewish or Phoenician adventurers used to extract from a country long since lapsed8 into the darkest barbarism took a great hold upon my imagination, when suddenly he said to me, ‘Lad, did you ever hear of the Suliman Mountains up to the north-west of the Mushakulumbwe country?’ I told him I never had. ‘Ah, well,’ he said, ‘that is where Solomon really had his mines, his diamond mines, I mean.’
“‘How do you know that?’ I asked.
“‘Know it! why, what is “Suliman” but a corruption9 of Solomon?3 Besides, an old Isanusi or witch doctoress up in the Manica country told me all about it. She said that the people who lived across those mountains were a “branch” of the Zulus, speaking a dialect of Zulu, but finer and bigger men even; that there lived among them great wizards, who had learnt their art from white men when “all the world was dark,” and who had the secret of a wonderful mine of “bright stones.”’
“Well, I laughed at this story at the time, though it interested me, for the Diamond Fields were not discovered then, but poor Evans went off and was killed, and for twenty years I never thought any more of the matter. However, just twenty years afterwards — and that is a long time, gentlemen; an elephant hunter does not often live for twenty years at his business — I heard something more definite about Suliman’s Mountains and the country which lies beyond them. I was up beyond the Manica country, at a place called Sitanda’s Kraal, and a miserable10 place it was, for a man could get nothing to eat, and there was but little game about. I had an attack of fever, and was in a bad way generally, when one day a Portugee arrived with a single companion — a half-breed. Now I know your low-class Delagoa Portugee well. There is no greater devil unhung in a general way, battening as he does upon human agony and flesh in the shape of slaves. But this was quite a different type of man to the mean fellows whom I had been accustomed to meet; indeed, in appearance he reminded me more of the polite doms I have read about, for he was tall and thin, with large dark eyes and curling grey mustachios. We talked together for a while, for he could speak broken English, and I understood a little Portugee, and he told me that his name was José Silvestre, and that he had a place near Delagoa Bay. When he went on next day with his half-breed companion, he said ‘Good-bye,’ taking off his hat quite in the old style.
“‘Good-bye, senor,’ he said; ‘if ever we meet again I shall be the richest man in the world, and I will remember you.’ I laughed a little — I was too weak to laugh much — and watched him strike out for the great desert to the west, wondering if he was mad, or what he thought he was going to find there.
“A week passed, and I got the better of my fever. One evening I was sitting on the ground in front of the little tent I had with me, chewing the last leg of a miserable fowl11 I had bought from a native for a bit of cloth worth twenty fowls12, and staring at the hot red sun sinking down over the desert, when suddenly I saw a figure, apparently13 that of a European, for it wore a coat, on the slope of the rising ground opposite to me, about three hundred yards away. The figure crept along on its hands and knees, then it got up and staggered forward a few yards on its legs, only to fall and crawl again. Seeing that it must be somebody in distress14, I sent one of my hunters to help him, and presently he arrived, and who do you suppose it turned out to be?”
“José Silvestre, of course,” said Captain Good.
“Yes, José Silvestre, or rather his skeleton and a little skin. His face was a bright yellow with bilious15 fever, and his large dark eyes stood nearly out of his head, for all the flesh had gone. There was nothing but yellow parchment-like skin, white hair, and the gaunt bones sticking up beneath.
“‘Water! for the sake of Christ, water!’ he moaned and I saw that his lips were cracked, and his tongue, which protruded16 between them, was swollen17 and blackish.
“I gave him water with a little milk in it, and he drank it in great gulps18, two quarts or so, without stopping. I would not let him have any more. Then the fever took him again, and he fell down and began to rave19 about Suliman’s Mountains, and the diamonds, and the desert. I carried him into the tent and did what I could for him, which was little enough; but I saw how it must end. About eleven o’clock he grew quieter, and I lay down for a little rest and went to sleep. At dawn I woke again, and in the half light saw Silvestre sitting up, a strange, gaunt form, and gazing out towards the desert. Presently the first ray of the sun shot right across the wide plain before us till it reached the faraway crest20 of one of the tallest of the Suliman Mountains more than a hundred miles away.
“‘There it is!’ cried the dying man in Portuguese21, and pointing with his long, thin arm, ‘but I shall never reach it, never. No one will ever reach it!’
“Suddenly, he paused, and seemed to take a resolution. ‘Friend,’ he said, turning towards me, ‘are you there? My eyes grow dark.’
“‘Yes,’ I said; ‘yes, lie down now, and rest.’
“‘Ay,’ he answered, ‘I shall rest soon, I have time to rest — all eternity22. Listen, I am dying! You have been good to me. I will give you the writing. Perhaps you will get there if you can live to pass the desert, which has killed my poor servant and me.’
“Then he groped in his shirt and brought out what I thought was a Boer tobacco pouch23 made of the skin of the Swart-vet-pens or sable24 antelope25. It was fastened with a little strip of hide, what we call a rimpi, and this he tried to loose, but could not. He handed it to me. ‘Untie it,’ he said. I did so, and extracted a bit of torn yellow linen26 on which something was written in rusty27 letters. Inside this rag was a paper.
“Then he went on feebly, for he was growing weak: ‘The paper has all that is on the linen. It took me years to read. Listen: my ancestor, a political refugee from Lisbon, and one of the first Portuguese who landed on these shores, wrote that when he was dying on those mountains which no white foot ever pressed before or since. His name was José da Silvestra, and he lived three hundred years ago. His slave, who waited for him on this side of the mountains, found him dead, and brought the writing home to Delagoa. It has been in the family ever since, but none have cared to read it, till at last I did. And I have lost my life over it, but another may succeed, and become the richest man in the world — the richest man in the world. Only give it to no one, senor; go yourself!’
“Then he began to wander again, and in an hour it was all over.
“God rest him! he died very quietly, and I buried him deep, with big boulders28 on his breast; so I do not think that the jackals can have dug him up. And then I came away.”
“Ay, but the document?” said Sir Henry, in a tone of deep interest.
“Yes, the document; what was in it?” added the captain.
“Well, gentlemen, if you like I will tell you. I have never showed it to anybody yet except to a drunken old Portuguese trader who translated it for me, and had forgotten all about it by the next morning. The original rag is at my home in Durban, together with poor Dom José‘s translation, but I have the English rendering29 in my pocket-book, and a facsimile of the map, if it can be called a map. Here it is.”
map
“I, José da Silvestra, who am now dying of hunger in the little cave where no snow is on the north side of the nipple of the southernmost of the two mountains I have named Sheba’s Breasts, write this in the year 1590 with a cleft30 bone upon a remnant of my raiment, my blood being the ink. If my slave should find it when he comes, and should bring it to Delagoa, let my friend (name illegible) bring the matter to the knowledge of the king, that he may send an army which, if they live through the desert and the mountains, and can overcome the brave Kukuanes and their devilish arts, to which end many priests should be brought, will make him the richest king since Solomon. With my own eyes I have seen the countless31 diamonds stored in Solomon’s treasure chamber32 behind the white Death; but through the treachery of Gagool the witch-finder I might bring nought33 away, scarcely my life. Let him who comes follow the map, and climb the snow of Sheba’s left breast till he reaches the nipple, on the north side of which is the great road Solomon made, from whence three days’ journey to the King’s Palace. Let him kill Gagool. Pray for my soul. Farewell.
José da Silvestra.”4
When I had finished reading the above, and shown the copy of the map, drawn34 by the dying hand of the old Dom with his blood for ink, there followed a silence of astonishment35.
“Well,” said Captain Good, “I have been round the world twice, and put in at most ports, but may I be hung for a mutineer if ever I heard a yarn like this out of a story book, or in it either, for the matter of that.”
“It’s a queer tale, Mr. Quatermain,” said Sir Henry. “I suppose you are not hoaxing36 us? It is, I know, sometimes thought allowable to take in a greenhorn.”
“If you think that, Sir Henry,” I said, much put out, and pocketing my paper — for I do not like to be thought one of those silly fellows who consider it witty37 to tell lies, and who are for ever boasting to newcomers of extraordinary hunting adventures which never happened —“if you think that, why, there is an end to the matter,” and I rose to go.
Sir Henry laid his large hand upon my shoulder. “Sit down, Mr. Quatermain,” he said, “I beg your pardon; I see very well you do not wish to deceive us, but the story sounded so strange that I could hardly believe it.”
“You shall see the original map and writing when we reach Durban,” I answered, somewhat mollified, for really when I came to consider the question it was scarcely wonderful that he should doubt my good faith.
“But,” I went on, “I have not told you about your brother. I knew the man Jim who was with him. He was a Bechuana by birth, a good hunter, and for a native a very clever man. That morning on which Mr. Neville was starting I saw Jim standing38 by my wagon and cutting up tobacco on the disselboom.
“‘Jim,’ said I, ‘where are you off to this trip? It is elephants?’
“‘No, Baas,’ he answered, ‘we are after something worth much more than ivory.’
“‘And what might that be?’ I said, for I was curious. ‘Is it gold?’
“‘No, Baas, something worth more than gold,’ and he grinned.
“I asked no more questions, for I did not like to lower my dignity by seeming inquisitive39, but I was puzzled. Presently Jim finished cutting his tobacco.
“‘Baas,’ said he.
“I took no notice.
“‘Baas,’ said he again.
“‘Eh, boy, what is it?’ I asked.
“‘Baas, we are going after diamonds.’
“‘Diamonds! why, then, you are steering40 in the wrong direction; you should head for the Fields.’
“‘Baas, have you ever heard of Suliman’s Berg?’— that is, Solomon’s Mountains, Sir Henry.
“‘Ay!’
“‘Have you ever heard of the diamonds there?’
“‘I have heard a foolish story, Jim.’
“‘It is no story, Baas. Once I knew a woman who came from there, and reached Natal41 with her child, she told me:— she is dead now.’
“‘Your master will feed the assv?gels’— that is, vultures —‘Jim, if he tries to reach Suliman’s country, and so will you if they can get any pickings off your worthless old carcass,’ said I.
“He grinned. ‘Mayhap, Baas. Man must die; I’d rather like to try a new country myself; the elephants are getting worked out about here.’
“‘Ah! my boy,’ I said, ‘you wait till the “pale old man” gets a grip of your yellow throat, and then we shall hear what sort of a tune42 you sing.’
“Half an hour after that I saw Neville’s wagon move off. Presently Jim came back running. ‘Good-bye, Baas,’ he said. ‘I didn’t like to start without bidding you good-bye, for I daresay you are right, and that we shall never trek43 south again.’
“‘Is your master really going to Suliman’s Berg, Jim, or are you lying?’
“‘No,’ he answered, ‘he is going. He told me he was bound to make his fortune somehow, or try to; so he might as well have a fling for the diamonds.’
“‘Oh!’ I said; ‘wait a bit, Jim; will you take a note to your master, Jim, and promise not to give it to him till you reach Inyati?’ which was some hundred miles off.
“‘Yes, Baas.’
“So I took a scrap44 of paper, and wrote on it, ‘Let him who comes . . . climb the snow of Sheba’s left breast, till he reaches the nipple, on the north side of which is Solomon’s great road.’
“‘Now, Jim,’ I said, ‘when you give this to your master, tell him he had better follow the advice on it implicitly45. You are not to give it to him now, because I don’t want him back asking me questions which I won’t answer. Now be off, you idle fellow, the wagon is nearly out of sight.’
“Jim took the note and went, and that is all I know about your brother, Sir Henry; but I am much afraid —”
“Mr. Quatermain,” said Sir Henry, “I am going to look for my brother; I am going to trace him to Suliman’s Mountains, and over them if necessary, till I find him, or until I know that he is dead. Will you come with me?”
I am, as I think I have said, a cautious man, indeed a timid one, and this suggestion frightened me. It seemed to me that to undertake such a journey would be to go to certain death, and putting other considerations aside, as I had a son to support, I could not afford to die just then.
“No, thank you, Sir Henry, I think I had rather not,” I answered. “I am too old for wild-goose chases of that sort, and we should only end up like my poor friend Silvestre. I have a son dependent on me, so I cannot afford to risk my life foolishly.”
Both Sir Henry and Captain Good looked very disappointed.
“Mr. Quatermain,” said the former, “I am well off, and I am bent46 upon this business. You may put the remuneration for your services at whatever figure you like in reason, and it shall be paid over to you before we start. Moreover, I will arrange in the event of anything untoward47 happening to us or to you, that your son shall be suitably provided for. You will see from this offer how necessary I think your presence. Also if by chance we should reach this place, and find diamonds, they shall belong to you and Good equally. I do not want them. But of course that promise is worth nothing at all, though the same thing would apply to any ivory we might get. You may pretty well make your own terms with me, Mr. Quatermain; and of course I shall pay all expenses.”
“Sir Henry,” said I, “this is the most liberal proposal I ever had, and one not to be sneezed at by a poor hunter and trader. But the job is the biggest I have come across, and I must take time to think it over. I will give you my answer before we get to Durban.”
“Very good,” answered Sir Henry.
Then I said good-night and turned in, and dreamt about poor long-dead Silvestre and the diamonds.
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收听单词发音
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1
buffalo
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| n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛 | |
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prospecting
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| n.探矿 | |
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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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4
quartz
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| n.石英 | |
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masonry
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| n.砖土建筑；砖石 | |
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6
yarn
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| n.纱，纱线，纺线；奇闻漫谈，旅行轶事 | |
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7
civilisation
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| n.文明，文化，开化，教化 | |
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8
lapsed
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| adj.流失的，堕落的v.退步( lapse的过去式和过去分词 )；陷入；倒退；丧失 | |
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9
corruption
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| n.腐败，堕落，贪污 | |
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10
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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11
fowl
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| n.家禽，鸡，禽肉 | |
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12
fowls
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| 鸟( fowl的名词复数 )； 禽肉； 既不是这； 非驴非马 | |
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13
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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14
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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15
bilious
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| adj.胆汁过多的；易怒的 | |
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16
protruded
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| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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swollen
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| adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀 | |
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18
gulps
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| n.一大口（尤指液体）( gulp的名词复数 )v.狼吞虎咽地吃，吞咽( gulp的第三人称单数 )；大口地吸（气）；哽住 | |
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19
rave
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| vi.胡言乱语；热衷谈论；n.热情赞扬 | |
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crest
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| n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖 | |
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Portuguese
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| n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语 | |
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eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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pouch
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| n.小袋，小包，囊状袋；vt.装...入袋中，用袋运输；vi.用袋送信件 | |
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sable
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| n.黑貂；adj.黑色的 | |
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antelope
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| n.羚羊；羚羊皮 | |
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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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27
rusty
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| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
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28
boulders
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| 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 | |
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29
rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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cleft
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| n.裂缝；adj.裂开的 | |
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31
countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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32
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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nought
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| n.／adj.无，零 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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36
hoaxing
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| v.开玩笑骗某人，戏弄某人( hoax的现在分词 ) | |
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witty
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| adj.机智的，风趣的 | |
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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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inquisitive
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| adj.求知欲强的，好奇的，好寻根究底的 | |
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40
steering
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| n.操舵装置 | |
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41
natal
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| adj.出生的，先天的 | |
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42
tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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43
trek
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| vi.作长途艰辛的旅行；n.长途艰苦的旅行 | |
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44
scrap
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| n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废 | |
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45
implicitly
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| adv. 含蓄地, 暗中地, 毫不保留地 | |
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46
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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47
untoward
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| adj.不利的，不幸的，困难重重的 | |
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