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Chapter III The Adventure of the Literary Innkeeper
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I had a solemn time travelling north that day. It was fine May weather, with the hawthorn1 flowering on every hedge, and I asked myself why, when I was still a free man, I had stayed on in London and not got the good of this heavenly country. I didn’t dare face the restaurant car, but I got a luncheon-basket at Leeds and shared it with the fat woman. Also I got the morning’s papers, with news about starters for the Derby and the beginning of the cricket season, and some paragraphs about how Balkan affairs were settling down and a British squadron was going to Kiel.
When I had done with them I got out Scudder’s little black pocket-book and studied it. It was pretty well filled with jottings, chiefly figures, though now and then a name was printed in. For example, I found the words “Hofgaard”, “Luneville”, and “Avocado” pretty often, and especially the word “Pavia”.
Now I was certain that Scudder never did anything without a reason, and I was pretty sure that there was a cypher in all this. That is a subject which has always interested me, and I did a bit at it myself once as intelligence officer at Delagoa Bay during the Boer War. I have a head for things like chess and puzzles, and I used to reckon myself pretty good at finding out cyphers. This one looked like the numerical kind where sets of figures correspond to the letters of the alphabet, but any fairly shrewd man can find the clue to that sort after an hour or two’s work, and I didn’t think Scudder would have been content with anything so easy. So I fastened on the printed words, for you can make a pretty good numerical cypher if you have a key word which gives you the sequence of the letters.
I tried for hours, but none of the words answered. Then I fell asleep and woke at Dumfries just in time to bundle out and get into the slow Galloway train. There was a man on the platform whose looks I didn’t like, but he never glanced at me, and when I caught sight of myself in the mirror of an automatic machine I didn’t wonder. With my brown face, my old tweeds, and my slouch, I was the very model of one of the hill farmers who were crowding into the third-class carriages.
I travelled with half a dozen in an atmosphere of shag and clay pipes. They had come from the weekly market, and their mouths were full of prices. I heard accounts of how the lambing had gone up the Cairn and the Deuch and a dozen other mysterious waters. Above half the men had lunched heavily and were highly flavoured with whisky, so they took no notice of me. We rumbled2 slowly into a land of little wooded glens and then to a great wide moorland place, gleaming with lochs, with high blue hills showing northwards.
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收听单词发音

1
hawthorn
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山楂 | |
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2
rumbled
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发出隆隆声,发出辘辘声( rumble的过去式和过去分词 ); 轰鸣着缓慢行进; 发现…的真相; 看穿(阴谋) | |
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3
moor
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n.荒野,沼泽;vt.(使)停泊;vi.停泊 | |
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noted
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adj.著名的,知名的 | |
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bog
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n.沼泽;室...陷入泥淖 | |
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amethyst
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n.紫水晶 | |
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bogs
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n.沼泽,泥塘( bog的名词复数 );厕所v.(使)陷入泥沼, (使)陷入困境( bog的第三人称单数 );妨碍,阻碍 | |
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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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brawling
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n.争吵,喧嚷 | |
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herd
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n.兽群,牧群;vt.使集中,把…赶在一起 | |
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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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kindly
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adj.和蔼的,温和的,爽快的;adv.温和地,亲切地 | |
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lodging
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n.寄宿,住所;(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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hearty
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adj.热情友好的;衷心的;尽情的,纵情的 | |
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scones
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n.烤饼,烤小圆面包( scone的名词复数 ) | |
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dwellers
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n.居民,居住者( dweller的名词复数 ) | |
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dealer
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n.商人,贩子 | |
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spoke
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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 | |
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contrive
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vt.谋划,策划;设法做到;设计,想出 | |
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careworn
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adj.疲倦的,饱经忧患的 | |
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ridge
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n.山脊;鼻梁;分水岭 | |
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plovers
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n.珩,珩科鸟(如凤头麦鸡)( plover的名词复数 ) | |
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swell
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vi.膨胀,肿胀;增长,增强 | |
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tarn
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n.山中的小湖或小潭 | |
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granite
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adj.花岗岩,花岗石 | |
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brute
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n.野兽,兽性 | |
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rim
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n.(圆物的)边,轮缘;边界 | |
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reticent
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adj.沉默寡言的;言不如意的 | |
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descended
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a.为...后裔的,出身于...的 | |
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peevish
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adj.易怒的,坏脾气的 | |
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fixed
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adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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pugnaciously
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burrowed
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v.挖掘(洞穴),挖洞( burrow的过去式和过去分词 );翻寻 | |
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tangle
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n.纠缠;缠结;混乱;v.(使)缠绕;变乱 | |
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belongings
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n.私人物品,私人财物 | |
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bawling
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v.大叫,大喊( bawl的现在分词 );放声大哭;大声叫出;叫卖(货物) | |
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thicket
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n.灌木丛,树林 | |
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bugler
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喇叭手; 号兵; 吹鼓手; 司号员 | |
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brass
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n.黄铜;黄铜器,铜管乐器 | |
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cascaded
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级联的 | |
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radius
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n.半径,半径范围;有效航程,范围,界限 | |
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circumference
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n.圆周,周长,圆周线 | |
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crouching
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v.屈膝,蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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hawk
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n.鹰,骗子;鹰派成员 | |
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plentiful
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adj.富裕的,丰富的 | |
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plantations
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n.种植园,大农场( plantation的名词复数 ) | |
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racing
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n.竞赛,赛马;adj.竞赛用的,赛马用的 | |
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espionage
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n.间谍行为,谍报活动 | |
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sanctuary
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n.圣所,圣堂,寺庙;禁猎区,保护区 | |
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bent
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n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
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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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twilight
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n.暮光,黄昏;暮年,晚期,衰落时期 | |
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wilderness
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n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等,荒漠 | |
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moory
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adj.摩尔人的,(建筑、家具等)摩尔人式的,摩尔人风格的 | |
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gravel
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n.砂跞;砂砾层;结石 | |
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tenants
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n.房客( tenant的名词复数 );佃户;占用者;占有者 | |
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gentry
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n.绅士阶级,上层阶级 | |
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yarn
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n.纱,纱线,纺线;奇闻漫谈,旅行轶事 | |
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minor
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adj.较小(少)的,较次要的;n.辅修学科;vi.辅修 | |
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parching
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adj.烘烤似的,焦干似的v.(使)焦干, (使)干透( parch的现在分词 );使(某人)极口渴 | |
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horrid
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adj.可怕的;令人惊恐的;恐怖的;极讨厌的 | |
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snug
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adj.温暖舒适的,合身的,安全的;v.使整洁干净,舒适地依靠,紧贴;n.(英)酒吧里的私房 | |
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silhouetted
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显出轮廓的,显示影像的 | |
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vowels
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n.元音,元音字母( vowel的名词复数 ) | |
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consonants
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n.辅音,子音( consonant的名词复数 );辅音字母 | |
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scribbled
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v.潦草的书写( scribble的过去式和过去分词 );乱画;草草地写;匆匆记下 | |
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eyebrows
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眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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neatly
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adv.整洁地,干净地,灵巧地,熟练地 | |
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sleek
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adj.光滑的,井然有序的;v.使光滑,梳拢 | |
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constable
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n.(英国)警察,警官 | |
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docile
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adj.驯服的,易控制的,容易教的 | |
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decency
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n.体面,得体,合宜,正派,庄重 | |
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constables
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n.警察( constable的名词复数 ) | |
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sergeant
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n.警官,中士 | |
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dyke
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n.堤,水坝,排水沟 | |
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tributary
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n.支流;纳贡国;adj.附庸的;辅助的;支流的 | |
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