12
On the second and final day of their descent into the down deep, the novel gradually became the
seventy-two, eighty-four, and wonder where a dozen landings went. The kink in her left knee was
know. She took to using the walking stick less, finding it only held up her pace as it often slipped
between the treads and got caught there. With it tucked under her arm, it felt more useful. Like
another bone in her skeleton, holding her together.
When they passed the ninetieth floor, with the stench of fertilizer and the pigs and other animals
that produced this useful waste, Jahns pressed on, skipping the tour and lunch she’d planned, thinking
Technically11, they were already in the down deep when they reached ninety-seven. The bottom
third. But even though the silo was mathematically divided into three sections of forty-eight floors
each, her brain didn’t work that way. Floor one hundred was a better demarcation. It was a milestone12.
She counted the floors down until they reached the first landing with three digits13 and stopped for a
break.
Marnes was breathing deeply, she noticed. But she felt great. Alive and renewed in the way she
had hoped the trip would make her feel. The futility14, dread15, and exhaustion16 from the day before were
gone. All that remained was a small twinge of fear that these dour17 feelings could return, that this
exuberant18 elation19 was a temporary high, that if she stopped, if she thought on it too long, it would
They split a small loaf of bread between them, sitting on the metal grating of the wide landing
the dizzying crowds, merchants barked their best deals. The doors remained propped open for the
traffic, letting the smells and sounds drift out onto the double-wide landing, the grating shivering with
excitement.
Jahns reveled in the anonymity25 of the passing crowd. She bit into her half of the loaf, savoring26 the
fresh yeastiness of bread baked that morning, and felt like just another person. A younger person.
Marnes cut her a piece of cheese and a slice of apple and sandwiched them together. His hand
touched hers as he passed it to her. Even the bread crumbs27 in his mustache were part of the moment’s
perfection.
“We’re way ahead of schedule,” Marnes said before taking a bite of fruit. It was just a pleasant
observation. A pat on their elderly backs. “I figure we’ll hit one-forty by dinner.”
company, or amid the music leaking out of the bazaar, some beggar strumming his uke over the noise
of the crowd.
“Why don’t we come down here more often?” she asked.
the bar at Kipper’s. How many of these people come up to any of that more than once every few
years?”
Jahns chewed on that and on her last bite of bread.
“Do you think it’s natural? Not wandering too far from where we live?”
“Don’t follow,” Marnes said around a bite of food.
“Pretend, just as a hypothetical, mind you, that people lived in those ancient aboveground silos
poking33 up over the hillside. You don’t think they would move around so little, do you? Like stay in
the same silo? Never wander over here or up and down a hundred flights of stairs?”
“I don’t think on those things,” Marnes said. Jahns took it as a hint that she shouldn’t, either. It
was impossible sometimes to know what could and couldn’t be said about the outside. Those were
maybe she was as susceptible35 to the post-cleaning high as anyone else: the sense that some rules
could be relaxed, a few temptations courted, the release of pressure in the silo giving excuse for a
month of jubilant wiggling in one’s own skin.
“Should we get going?” Jahns asked as Marnes finished his bread.
He nodded, and they stood and collected their things. A woman walking by turned and stared, a
flash of recognition on her face, gone as she hurried to catch up with her children.
It was like another world down here, Jahns thought to herself. She had gone too long without a
visit. And even as she promised herself not to let that happen again, some part of her knew, like a
••••
Floors drifted in and out of sight. The lower gardens, the larger farm in the one-thirties, the
conversation with Marnes the night before, the idea of Donald living with her more in memory than
reality, when she came to the gate at one-forty.
She hadn’t even noticed the change in the traffic, the preponderance of blue denim38 overalls39, the
porters with more satchels40 of parts and tools than clothes, food, or personal deliveries. But the crowd
at the gate showed her that she’d arrived at the upper levels of Mechanical. Gathered at the entrance
professions by the tools they carried. It was late in the day, and she assumed most were returning
home from repairs made throughout the silo. The thought of climbing so many flights of stairs and
then having to work boggled her mind. And then she remembered she was about to do that very
thing.
Rather than abuse her station or Marnes’s power, they waited in line while the workers checked
through the gate. As these tired men and women signed back in and logged their travel and hours,
Jahns thought of the time she had wasted ruminating42 about her own life during the long descent, time
she should’ve spent polishing her appeal to this Juliette. Rare nerves twisted her gut43 as the line
shuffled44 forward. The worker ahead of them showed his ID, the card colored blue for Mechanical. He
scratched his information on a dusty slate45. When it was their turn, they pushed through the outer gate
mayor.
“Your Honor,” he said, and Jahns didn’t correct him. “Weren’t expecting you this shift.” He
waved their IDs away and reached for a nub of chalk. “Let me.”
palm collecting dust from the old film of chalk below. For Marnes, he simply wrote “Sheriff,” and
again, Jahns didn’t correct him.
“I know she wasn’t expecting us until later,” Jahns said, “but I wonder if we could meet with
Juliette Nichols now.”
The station guard turned and looked behind him at the digital clock that recorded the proper time.
hall and wait.”
“What about seeing her at work? It would be nice to see what she does. We’d try our best to stay
out of the way.”
The guard lifted his shoulders. “You’re the mayor. I can’t say no.” He jabbed the nub of chalk
down the hall, the people lined up outside the gate shifting impatiently as they waited. “See Knox.
He’ll get someone to run you down.”
The head of Mechanical was a man hard to miss. Knox amply filled the largest set of overalls
Jahns had ever seen. She wondered if the extra denim cost him more chits and how a man managed
to keep such a belly51 full. A thick beard added to his scope. If he smiled or frowned at their approach,
it was impossible to know. He was as unmoved as a wall of concrete.
Jahns explained what they were after. Marnes said hello, and she realized they must’ve met the
last time he was down. Knox listened, nodded, and then bellowed52 in a voice so gruff, the words were
indistinguishable from one another. But they meant something to someone, as a young boy
materialized from behind him, a waif of a kid with unusually bright orange hair.
beard where a mouth should have been.
The corridors in Mechanical, Jahns saw, were even tighter than elsewhere in the silo. They
squeezed through the end-of-shift traffic, the concrete blocks on either side primed but not painted,
and rough where they brushed against her shoulder. Overhead, parallel and twisting runs of pipe and
wire conduit hung exposed. Jahns felt the urge to duck, despite the half foot of clearance56; she noticed
many of the taller workers walking with a stoop. The lights overhead were dim and spaced well apart,
making the sensation of tunneling deeper and deeper into the earth overwhelming.
The young shadow with the orange hair led them around several turns, his confidence in the route
seemingly habitual. They came to a flight of stairs, the square kind that made right turns, and went
stairwell on one-forty-two, they passed an odd contraption in a wide open room just off the hallway.
A steel arm the size of several people end to end was moving up and down, driving a piston59 through
chemical, something rotten. She couldn’t place it.
“Is this the generator?”
“That’s a pump,” he said. “Oil well. It’s how you read at night.”
He squeezed her shoulder as he walked past, and Jahns forgave him instantly for laughing at her.
She hurried after him and Knox’s young shadow.
“The generator is that thrumming you hear,” Marnes said. “The pump brings up oil, they do
something to it in a plant a few floors down, and then it’s ready to burn.”
again, at how much of the silo was alien to even her, she who was supposed to be—nominally at least
—running things.
gestures, and Jahns found herself willing her feet to carry her toward the noise. She wondered,
suddenly, if they were being led outside. It was an illogical, senseless idea, born of imagining the
most dangerous threat she could possibly summon.
from a rack by the wall. Jahns followed his lead and put a pair over her own ears. The noise was
deadened, remaining only in her chest and nerve endings. She wondered why, for what cause, this
rack of ear protection would be located inside the room rather than outside.
The boy waved and said something, but it was just moving lips. They followed him along a
narrow passageway of steel grating, a floor much like the landings on each silo floor. When the
hallway turned, one wall fell away and was replaced with a railing of three horizontal bars. A
machine beyond reckoning loomed70 on the other side. It was the size of her entire apartment and office
put together. Nothing seemed to be moving at first, nothing to justify71 the pounding she could feel in
her chest and across her skin. It wasn’t until they fully72 rounded the machine that she saw the steel rod
sticking out of the back of the unit, spinning ferociously73 and disappearing into another massive metal
machine that had cables as thick as a man’s waist rising up toward the ceiling.
The power and energy in the room were palpable. As they reached the end of the second machine,
Jahns finally saw a solitary74 figure working beside it. A young-looking woman in overalls, a hard hat
tall. Her presence gave the machines a terrifying sense of scale, but she didn’t seem to fear them. She
threw herself into her wrench, her body frightfully close to the roaring unit, reminding Jahns of an
idea of a woman this size fixing a machine of such ferocity seemed absurd. But she watched the
the back of one hand, her other hand swinging the wrench around to rest on her shoulder. She patted
the young shadow on the head and walked out to meet them. Jahns saw that the woman’s arms were
lean and well defined with muscle. She wore no undershirt, just blue overalls cut high up over her
chest, exposing a bit of olive skin that gleamed with sweat. She had the same dark complexion79 as the
farmers who worked under grow lights, but it could have been as much from the grease and grime if
her denims were any indication.
She stopped short of Jahns and Marnes, and nodded at them. She smiled at Marnes with a hint of
recognition. She didn’t offer a hand, for which Jahns was grateful. Instead, she pointed80 toward a door
by a glass partition and then headed that way herself.
Marnes followed on her heels like a puppy, Jahns close behind. She turned to make sure the
shadow wasn’t underfoot, only to see him scurrying81 off the way he had come, his hair glowing in the
was shut tight. Juliette pulled off her hard hat and earmuffs and dropped them on a shelf. Jahns took
hers away from her head tentatively, heard the noise reduced to a distant hum, and removed them all
the way. The room was tight and crowded with metal surfaces and winking83 lights unlike anything she
had ever seen. It was strange to her that she was mayor of this room as well, a thing she hardly knew
existed and certainly couldn’t operate.
While the ringing in Jahns’s ears subsided84, Juliette adjusted some spinning knobs, watching little
arms waver under glass shields. “I thought we were doing this tomorrow morning,” she said,
concentrating intently on her work.
“We made better time than I’d hoped.”
Jahns looked to Marnes, who was holding his ear protection in both hands, shifting
uncomfortably.
“Good to see you again, Jules,” he said.
She nodded and leaned down to peer through the thick glass window at the gargantuan85 machines
outside, her hands darting86 over the large control board without needing to look, adjusting large black
dials with faded white markings.
“Sorry about your partner,” she said, glancing down at a bank of readouts. She turned and studied
Marnes, and Jahns saw that this woman, beneath the sweat and grime, was beautiful. Her face was
hard and lean, her eyes bright. She had a fierce intelligence you could measure from a distance. And
she peered at Marnes with utmost sympathy, visible in the furrow87 of her brows. “Really,” she said.
“I’m terribly sorry. He seemed like a good man.”
Juliette nodded as if that was all that needed saying. She turned to Jahns.
off. If you think it feels bad in here, you should go put your hands on the casing. It’ll jiggle your
fingers numb5 immediately. Hold it long enough, and your bones will rattle90 like you’re coming apart.”
She turned and reached between Jahns and Marnes to throw a massive switch, then turned back to
the control board. “Now imagine what that generator is going through, shaking itself to pieces like
that. Teeth start grinding together in the transmission, small bits of metal shavings cycle through the
oil like sandpaper grit91. Next thing you know, there’s an explosion of steel and we’ve got no power
but whatever the backup can spit out.”
Jahns held her breath.
“You need us to get someone?” Marnes asked.
Juliette laughed. “None of this is news or different from any other shift. If the backup unit wasn’t
being torn down for new gaskets, and we could go to half power for a week, I could pull that coupler,
adjust the mounts, and have her spinning like a top.” She shot a look at Jahns. “But since we have a
mandate92 for full power, no interruptions, that’s not happening. So I’m going to keep tightening93 bolts
while they keep trying to shake loose, and try to find the right revolutions in here to keep her fairly
singing.”
“I had no idea, when I signed that mandate—”
“And here I thought I’d dumbed down my report enough to make it clear,” Juliette said.
“How long before this failure happens?”
Jahns suddenly realized she wasn’t here interviewing this woman. The demands were heading in
the opposite direction.
“How long?” Juliette laughed and shook her head. She finished a final adjustment and turned to
face them with her arms crossed. “It could happen right now. It could happen a hundred years from
now. The point is: it’s going to happen, and it’s entirely preventable. The goal shouldn’t be to keep
this place humming along for our lifetimes”—she looked pointedly94 at Jahns—“or our current term. If
the goal ain’t forever, we should pack our bags right now.”
Jahns saw Marnes stiffen95 at this. She felt her own body react, a chill coursing across her skin. This
“I could declare a power holiday,” Jahns suggested. “We could stage it in memory of those who
clean.” She thought more about this. “It could be an excuse to service more than your machine here.
We could—”
“Good luck getting IT to power down shit,” Juliette said. She wiped her chin with the back of her
wrist, then wiped this on her overalls. She looked down at the grease transferred to the denim.
“Pardon my language, Mayor.”
Jahns wanted to tell her it was quite all right, but the woman’s attitude, her power, reminded her
niceties and got what she wanted. She found herself glancing over at Marnes. “Why do you single out
their department? For the power, I mean.”
Juliette laughed and uncrossed her arms. She tossed her hands toward the ceiling. “Why? Because
IT has, what, three floors out of one-forty-four? And yet they use up over a quarter of all the power
we produce. I can do the math for you—”
“That’s quite all right.”
“And I don’t remember a server ever feeding someone or saving someone’s life or stitching up a
hole in their britches.”
Jahns smiled. She suddenly saw what Marnes liked about this woman. She also saw what he had
once seen in her younger self, before she married his best friend.
“What if we had IT ratchet down for some maintenance of their own for a week? Would that
work?”
Juliette shot him a look. “And I thought I told you— or your secretary—not to bother. Not that
I’ve got anything against what you do, but I’m needed down here.” She raised her arm and checked
something dangling from her wrist. It was a timepiece. But she was studying it as if it still worked.
“Look, I’d love to chat more.” She looked up at Jahns. “Especially if you can guarantee a holiday
from the juice, but I’ve got a few more adjustments to make and I’m already into my overtime99. Knox
gets pissed if I push into too many extra shifts.”
“We’ll get out of your hair,” Jahns said. “We haven’t had dinner yet, so maybe we can see you
after? Once you punch out and get cleaned up?”
Juliette looked down at herself, as if to confirm she even needed cleaning. “Yeah, sure,” she said.
“They’ve got you in the bunkhouse?”
Marnes nodded.
“All right. I’ll find you later. And don’t forget your muffs.” She pointed to her ears, looked
Marnes in the eye, nodded, then returned to her work, letting them know the conversation, for now,
was over.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
gauge
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| v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器 | |
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2
habitual
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| adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的 | |
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3
daydreaming
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| v.想入非非，空想( daydream的现在分词 ) | |
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4
serenely
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| adv.安详地，宁静地，平静地 | |
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5
numb
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| adj.麻木的，失去感觉的；v.使麻木 | |
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6
soothed
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| v.安慰( soothe的过去式和过去分词 )；抚慰；使舒服；减轻痛苦 | |
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7
numbness
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| n.无感觉，麻木，惊呆 | |
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8
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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9
briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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10
spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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11
technically
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| adv.专门地，技术上地 | |
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12
milestone
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| n.里程碑；划时代的事件 | |
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13
digits
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| n.数字( digit的名词复数 )；手指，足趾 | |
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14
futility
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| n.无用 | |
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15
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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16
exhaustion
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| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
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17
dour
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| adj.冷酷的，严厉的；（岩石）嶙峋的；顽强不屈 | |
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18
exuberant
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| adj.充满活力的；（植物）繁茂的 | |
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19
elation
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| n.兴高采烈，洋洋得意 | |
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20
moody
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| adj.心情不稳的，易怒的，喜怒无常的 | |
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21
propped
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| 支撑，支持，维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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22
teemed
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| v.充满( teem的过去式和过去分词 )；到处都是；（指水、雨等）暴降；倾注 | |
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23
bazaar
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| n.集市，商店集中区 | |
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24
coveted
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| adj.令人垂涎的；垂涎的，梦寐以求的v.贪求，觊觎(covet的过去分词)；垂涎；贪图 | |
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25
anonymity
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| n.the condition of being anonymous | |
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26
savoring
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| v.意味，带有…的性质( savor的现在分词 )；给…加调味品；使有风味；品尝 | |
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27
crumbs
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| int. (表示惊讶)哎呀 n. 碎屑 名词crumb的复数形式 | |
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28
dreading
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| v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的现在分词 ) | |
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contentedly
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| adv.心满意足地 | |
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30
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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31
grunted
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
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32
wan
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| (wide area network)广域网 | |
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33
poking
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| n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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spouses
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| n.配偶，夫或妻( spouse的名词复数 ) | |
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susceptible
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| adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的 | |
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36
rusting
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| n.生锈v.（使）生锈( rust的现在分词 ) | |
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pungent
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| adj.（气味、味道）刺激性的，辛辣的；尖锐的 | |
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denim
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| n.斜纹棉布；斜纹棉布裤，牛仔裤 | |
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39
overalls
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| n.（复）工装裤；长罩衣 | |
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40
satchels
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| n.书包( satchel的名词复数 ) | |
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41
peg
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| n.木栓，木钉；vt.用木钉钉，用短桩固定 | |
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42
ruminating
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| v.沉思( ruminate的现在分词 )；反复考虑；反刍；倒嚼 | |
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43
gut
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| n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏 | |
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44
shuffled
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| v.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的过去式和过去分词 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼 | |
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45
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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46
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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47
spun
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| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
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48
generator
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| n.发电机，发生器 | |
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49
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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50
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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51
belly
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| n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛 | |
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52
bellowed
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| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的过去式和过去分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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53
growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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54
darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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budge
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| v.移动一点儿；改变立场 | |
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clearance
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| n.净空；许可(证)；清算；清除，清理 | |
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rumbling
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| n. 隆隆声, 辘辘声 adj. 隆隆响的 动词rumble的现在分词 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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piston
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| n.活塞 | |
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rhythmic
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| adj.有节奏的，有韵律的 | |
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manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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persistent
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| adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的 | |
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grumbling
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| adj. 喃喃鸣不平的, 出怨言的 | |
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deafening
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| adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式 | |
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wary
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| adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的 | |
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frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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cowering
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| v.畏缩，抖缩( cower的现在分词 ) | |
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dangling
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| 悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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loomed
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| v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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ferociously
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| 野蛮地，残忍地 | |
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solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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wrench
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| v.猛拧；挣脱；使扭伤；n.扳手；痛苦，难受 | |
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barb
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| n.（鱼钩等的）倒钩，倒刺 | |
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tug
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| v.用力拖(或拉)；苦干；n.拖；苦干；拖船 | |
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squinted
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| 斜视( squint的过去式和过去分词 )； 眯着眼睛； 瞟； 从小孔或缝隙里看 | |
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complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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scurrying
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| v.急匆匆地走( scurry的现在分词 ) | |
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lessened
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| 减少的，减弱的 | |
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winking
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| n.瞬眼，目语v.使眼色( wink的现在分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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gargantuan
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| adj.巨大的，庞大的 | |
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darting
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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furrow
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| n.沟；垄沟；轨迹；车辙；皱纹 | |
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sputtered
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| v.唾沫飞溅( sputter的过去式和过去分词 )；发劈啪声；喷出；飞溅出 | |
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vibration
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| n.颤动，振动；摆动 | |
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rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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grit
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| n.沙粒，决心，勇气；v.下定决心，咬紧牙关 | |
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mandate
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| n.托管地；命令，指示 | |
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tightening
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| 上紧，固定，紧密 | |
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pointedly
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| adv.尖地，明显地 | |
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stiffen
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| v.(使)硬，(使)变挺，(使)变僵硬 | |
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metaphor
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| n.隐喻，暗喻 | |
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dispensed
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| v.分配( dispense的过去式和过去分词 )；施与；配（药） | |
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grumbled
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| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
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overtime
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| adj.超时的，加班的；adv.加班地 | |
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