Early one evening, struggling with a sonnet¹ that twisted all awry² the beauty and thought that trailed in glow and vapor³ through his brain, Martin was called to the telephone.

"It's a lady's voice, a fine lady's," Mr. Higginbotham, who had called him, jeered⁴.

Martin went to the telephone in the corner of the room, and felt a wave of warmth rush through him as he heard Ruth's voice. In his battle with the sonnet he had forgotten her existence, and at the sound of her voice his love for her smote⁵ him like a sudden blow. And such a voice! - delicate and sweet, like a strain of music heard far off and faint, or, better, like a bell of silver, a perfect tone, crystal-pure. No mere⁶ woman had a voice like that. There was something celestial⁷ about it, and it came from other worlds. He could scarcely hear what it said, so ravished was he, though he controlled his face, for he knew that Mr. Higginbotham's ferret eyes were fixed⁸ upon him.

It was not much that Ruth wanted to say - merely that Norman had been going to take her to a lecture that night, but that he had a headache, and she was so disappointed, and she had the tickets, and that if he had no other engagement, would he be good enough to take her?

Would he! He fought to suppress the eagerness in his voice. It was amazing. He had always seen her in her own house. And he had never dared to ask her to go anywhere with him. Quite irrelevantly⁹, still at the telephone and talking with her, he felt an overpowering desire to die for her, and visions of heroic sacrifice shaped and dissolved in his whirling brain. He loved her so much, so terribly, so hopelessly. In that moment of mad happiness that she should go out with him, go to a lecture with him - with him, Martin Eden - she soared so far above him that there seemed nothing else for him to do than die for her. It was the only fit way in which he could express the tremendous and lofty emotion he felt for her. It was the

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1 sonnet
n.十四行诗
参考例句：
The composer set a sonnet to music.作曲家为一首十四行诗谱了曲。 He wrote a sonnet to his beloved.他写了一首十四行诗，献给他心爱的人。

2 awry
adj.扭曲的，错的
参考例句：
She was in a fury over a plan that had gone awry. 计划出了问题，她很愤怒。 Something has gone awry in our plans.我们的计划出差错了。

3 vapor
n.蒸汽，雾气
参考例句：
The cold wind condenses vapor into rain.冷风使水蒸气凝结成雨。 This new machine sometimes transpires a lot of hot vapor.这部机器有时排出大量的热气。

4 jeered
v.嘲笑( jeer的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
The police were jeered at by the waiting crowd. 警察受到在等待的人群的嘲弄。 The crowd jeered when the boxer was knocked down. 当那个拳击手被打倒时，人们开始嘲笑他。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 smote
v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去式 )
参考例句：
Figuratively, he could not kiss the hand that smote him. 打个比方说，他是不能认敌为友。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹 \"Whom Pearl smote down and uprooted, most unmercifully.\" 珠儿会毫不留情地将这些\"儿童\"踩倒，再连根拔起。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 文学

6 mere
adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过
参考例句：
That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。 It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

7 celestial
adj.天体的；天上的
参考例句：
The rosy light yet beamed like a celestial dawn.玫瑰色的红光依然象天上的朝霞一样绚丽。 Gravity governs the motions of celestial bodies.万有引力控制着天体的运动。

8 fixed
adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的
参考例句：
Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？ Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

9 irrelevantly
adv.不恰当地，不合适地；不相关地
参考例句：
To-morrow!\" Then she added irrelevantly: \"You ought to see the baby.\" 明天，”随即她又毫不相干地说：“你应当看看宝宝。” 来自英汉文学 - 盖茨比 Suddenly and irrelevantly, she asked him for money. 她突然很不得体地向他要钱。 来自互联网

10 sublime
adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的
参考例句：
We should take some time to enjoy the sublime beauty of nature.我们应该花些时间去欣赏大自然的壮丽景象。 Olympic games play as an important arena to exhibit the sublime idea.奥运会，就是展示此崇高理念的重要舞台。

11 purged
清除（政敌等）( purge的过去式和过去分词 )； 涤除（罪恶等）； 净化（心灵、风气等）； 消除（错事等）的不良影响
参考例句：
He purged his enemies from the Party. 他把他的敌人从党内清洗出去。 The iron in the chemical compound must be purged. 化学混合物中的铁必须清除。

12 dross
n.渣滓；无用之物
参考例句：
Caroline felt the value of the true ore,and knew the deception of the flashy dross.卡罗琳辨别出了真金的价值，知道那种炫耀的铁渣只有迷惑人的外表。 The best players go off to the big clubs,leaving us the dross.最好的队员都投奔大俱乐部去了，就只给我们剩下些不中用的人。

13 sneered
讥笑，冷笑( sneer的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
He sneered at people who liked pop music. 他嘲笑喜欢流行音乐的人。 It's very discouraging to be sneered at all the time. 成天受嘲讽是很令人泄气的。

14 allusion
n.暗示，间接提示
参考例句：
He made an allusion to a secret plan in his speech.在讲话中他暗示有一项秘密计划。 She made no allusion to the incident.她没有提及那个事件。

15 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：
The knife had penetrated his chest. 刀子刺入了他的胸膛。 They penetrated into territory where no man had ever gone before. 他们已进入先前没人去过的地区。

16 perturbed
adj.烦燥不安的v.使（某人）烦恼，不安( perturb的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
I am deeply perturbed by the alarming way the situation developing. 我对形势令人忧虑的发展深感不安。 来自《简明英汉词典》 Mother was much perturbed by my illness. 母亲为我的病甚感烦恼不安。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

17 bliss
n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福
参考例句：
It's sheer bliss to be able to spend the day in bed.整天都可以躺在床上真是幸福。 He's in bliss that he's won the Nobel Prize.他非常高兴，因为获得了诺贝尔奖金。

18 stickler
n.坚持细节之人
参考例句：
She's a real stickler for etiquette,so you'd better ask her advice.她非常讲求礼节，所以你最好问她的意见。 You will find Mrs. Carboy a stickler about trifles.您会发现卡博太太是个拘泥小节的人。

19 etiquette
n.礼仪，礼节；规矩
参考例句：
The rules of etiquette are not so strict nowadays.如今的礼仪规则已不那么严格了。 According to etiquette,you should stand up to meet a guest.按照礼节你应该站起来接待客人。

20 decided
adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的
参考例句：
This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。 There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

21 crooked
adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的
参考例句：
He crooked a finger to tell us to go over to him.他弯了弯手指，示意我们到他那儿去。 You have to drive slowly on these crooked country roads.在这些弯弯曲曲的乡间小路上你得慢慢开车。

22 invitingly
adv. 动人地
参考例句：
Her lips pouted invitingly. 她挑逗地撮起双唇。 The smooth road sloped invitingly before her. 平展的山路诱人地倾斜在她面前。

23 casually
adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地
参考例句：
She remarked casually that she was changing her job.她当时漫不经心地说要换工作。 I casually mentioned that I might be interested in working abroad.我不经意地提到我可能会对出国工作感兴趣。

24 manoeuvre
n.策略，调动；v.用策略，调动
参考例句：
Her withdrawal from the contest was a tactical manoeuvre.她退出比赛是一个战术策略。 The clutter of ships had little room to manoeuvre.船只橫七竖八地挤在一起，几乎没有多少移动的空间。

25 caper
v.雀跃，欢蹦；n.雀跃，跳跃；续随子，刺山柑花蕾；嬉戏
参考例句：
The children cut a caper in the yard.孩子们在院子里兴高采烈地乱蹦乱跳。 The girl's caper cost her a twisted ankle.小姑娘又蹦又跳，结果扭伤了脚踝。

26 giggly
adj.傻笑的，吃吃笑的
参考例句：
She wasn't so giggly anymore and she had never looked better. 她不再傻笑，而且看上去比以前更加完美。 来自互联网 Another one is Giggly. example, I sometimes get giggly when I watch a funny movie. 下一个是“傻笑”，例如，当我看笑片的时候，我有时会傻笑。 来自互联网

27 queried
v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问
参考例句：
She queried what he said. 她对他说的话表示怀疑。 来自《简明英汉词典》 \"What does he have to do?\" queried Chin dubiously. “他有什么心事？”琴向觉民问道，她的脸上现出疑惑不解的神情。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）

28 spoke
n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说
参考例句：
They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。 The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

29 sufficiently
adv.足够地，充分地
参考例句：
It turned out he had not insured the house sufficiently.原来他没有给房屋投足保险。 The new policy was sufficiently elastic to accommodate both views.新政策充分灵活地适用两种观点。

30 pliable
adj.易受影响的；易弯的；柔顺的，易驾驭的
参考例句：
Willow twigs are pliable.柳条很软。 The finely twined baskets are made with young,pliable spruce roots.这些编织精美的篮子是用柔韧的云杉嫩树根编成的。

31 luminous
adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的
参考例句：
There are luminous knobs on all the doors in my house.我家所有门上都安有夜光把手。 Most clocks and watches in this shop are in luminous paint.这家商店出售的大多数钟表都涂了发光漆。

32 amazement
n.惊奇，惊讶
参考例句：
All those around him looked at him with amazement.周围的人都对他投射出惊异的眼光。 He looked at me in blank amazement.他带着迷茫惊诧的神情望着我。

33 curiously
adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地
参考例句：
He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。 He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。

34 toil
vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事
参考例句：
The wealth comes from the toil of the masses.财富来自大众的辛勤劳动。 Every single grain is the result of toil.每一粒粮食都来之不易。

35 drudges
n.做苦工的人，劳碌的人( drudge的名词复数 )
参考例句：
He drudges daily with no hope of bettering himself. 他每日做苦工，而毫无改善自己境遇的希望。 来自互联网 I said that professional writers are solitary drudges who seldom see other writers. 我说职业作家是很少能见到其他作家的孤家寡人。 来自互联网

36 algebra
n.代数学
参考例句：
He was not good at algebra in middle school.他中学时不擅长代数。 The boy can't figure out the algebra problems.这个男孩做不出这道代数题。