The courtyard of the Nord Railway Station was lighted by oil-lamps taken from locomotives; their silvered reflectors threw dazzling rays from all sides on the under portion of the immense yellow mass of the balloon; the upper portion was swaying to and fro with gigantic ungainliness in the strong breeze. It was only a small balloon, as balloons are measured, but it seemed monstrous1 as it wavered over the human forms that were agitating2 themselves beneath it. The cordage was silhouetted3 against the yellow taffetas as high up as the widest diameter of the balloon, but above that all was vague, and even spectators standing4 at a distance could not clearly separate the summit of the great sphere from the darkly moving sky. The car, held by ropes fastened to stakes, rose now and then a few inches uneasily from the ground. The sombre and severe architecture of the station-buildings enclosed the balloon on every hand; it had only one way of escape. Over the roofs of that architecture, which shut out the sounds of the city, came the irregular booming of the bombardment. Shells were falling in the southern quarters of Paris, doing perhaps not a great deal of damage, but still plunging5 occasionally into the midst of some domestic interior and making a sad mess of it. The Parisians were convinced that the shells were aimed maliciously6 at hospitals and museums; and when a child happened to be blown to pieces their unspoken comments upon the Prussian savagery8 were bitter. Their faces said: "Those barbarians9 cannot even spare our children!" They amused themselves by creating a market in shells, paying more for a live shell than a dead one, and modifying the tariff10 according to the supply. And as the cattle-market was empty, and the vegetable-market was empty, and beasts no longer pastured on the grass of the parks, and the twenty-five million rats of the metropolis11 were too numerous to furnish interest to spectators, and the Bourse was practically deserted12, the traffic in shells sustained the starving mercantile instinct during a very dull period. But the effect on the nerves was deleterious. The nerves of everybody were like nothing but a raw wound. Violent anger would spring up magically out of laughter, and blows out of caresses13. This indirect consequence of the bombardment was particularly noticeable in the group of men under the balloon. Each behaved as if he were controlling his temper in the most difficult circumstances. Constantly they all gazed upwards14 into the sky, though nothing could possibly be distinguished15 there save the blurred16 edge of a flying cloud. But the booming came from that sky; the shells that were dropping on Montrouge came out of that sky; and the balloon was going up into it; the balloon was ascending17 into its mysteries, to brave its dangers, to sweep over the encircling ring of fire and savages18.
Sophia stood apart with Carlier. Carlier had indicated a particular spot, under the shelter of the colonnade19, where he said it was imperative20 that they should post themselves. Having guided Sophia to this spot, and impressed upon her that they were not to move, he seemed to consider that the activity of his role was finished, and spoke7 no word. With the very high silk hat which he always wore, and a thin old-fashioned overcoat whose collar was turned up, he made a rather grotesque21 figure. Fortunately the night was not very cold, or he might have passively frozen to death on the edge of that feverish22 group. Sophia soon ignored him. She watched the balloon. An aristocratic old man leaned against the car, watch in hand; at intervals23 he scowled24, or stamped his foot. An old sailor, tranquilly25 smoking a pipe, walked round and round the balloon, staring at it; once he climbed up into the rigging, and once he jumped into the car and angrily threw out of it a bag, which some one had placed in it. But for the most part he was calm. Other persons of authority hurried about, talking and gesticulating; and a number of workmen waited idly for orders.
"Where is Chirac?" suddenly cried the old man with the watch.
Several voices deferentially26 answered, and a man ran away into the gloom on an errand.
Then Chirac appeared, nervous, self-conscious, restless. He was enveloped27 in a fur coat that Sophia had never seen before, and he carried dangling28 in his hand a cage containing six pigeons whose whiteness stirred uneasily within it. The sailor took the cage from him and all the persons of authority gathered round to inspect the wonderful birds upon which, apparently29, momentous30 affairs depended. When the group separated, the sailor was to be seen bending over the edge of the car to deposit the cage safely. He then got into the car, still smoking his pipe, and perched himself negligently31 on the wicker-work. The man with the watch was conversing32 with Chirac; Chirac nodded his head frequently in acquiescence33, and seemed to be saying all the time: "Yes, sir! Perfectly34 sir! I understand, sir! Yes, sir!"
Suddenly Chirac turned to the car and put a question to the sailor, who shook his head. Whereupon Chirac gave a gesture of submissive despair to the man with the watch. And in an instant the whole throng35 was in a ferment36.
"The victuals37!" cried the man with the watch. "The victuals, name of God! Must one be indeed an idiot to forget the victuals! Name of God--of God!"
Sophia smiled at the agitation38, and at the inefficient39 management which had never thought of food. For it appeared that the food had not merely been forgotten; it was a question which had not even been considered. She could not help despising all that crowd of self-important and fussy40 males to whom the idea had not occurred that even balloonists must eat. And she wondered whether everything was done like that. After a delay that seemed very long, the problem of victuals was solved, chiefly, as far as Sophia could judge, by means of cakes of chocolate and bottles of wine.
"It is enough! It is enough!" Chirac shouted passionately41 several times to a knot of men who began to argue with him.
Then he gazed round furtively42, and with an inflation of the chest and a patting of his fur coat he came directly towards Sophia. Evidently Sophia's position had been prearranged between him and Carlier. They could forget food, but they could think of Sophia's position!
All eyes followed him. Those eyes could not, in the gloom, distinguish Sophia's beauty, but they could see that she was young and slim and elegant, and of foreign carriage. That was enough. The very air seemed to vibrate with the intense curiosity of those eyes. And immediately Chirac grew into the hero of some brilliant and romantic adventure. Immediately he was envied and admired by every man of authority present. What was she? Who was she? Was it a serious passion or simply a caprice? Had she flung herself at him? It was undeniable that lovely creatures did sometimes fling themselves at lucky mediocrities. Was she a married woman? An artiste? A girl? Such queries43 thumped44 beneath overcoats, while the correctness of a ceremonious demeanour was strictly45 observed.
Chirac uncovered, and kissed her hand. The wind disarranged his hair. She saw that his face was very pale and anxious beneath the swagger of a sincere desire to be brave.
"Well, it is the moment!" he said.
"Did you all forget the food?" she asked.
He shrugged46 his shoulders. "What will you? One cannot think of everything."
"I hope you will have a safe voyage," she said.
She had already taken leave of him once, in the house, and heard all about the balloon and the sailor-aeronaut and the preparations; and now she had nothing to say, nothing whatever.
He shrugged his shoulders again. "I hope so!" he murmured, but in a tone to convey that he had no such hope.
"The wind isn't too strong?" she suggested.
He shrugged his shoulders again. "What would you?"
"Is it in the direction you want?"
"Yes, nearly," he admitted unwillingly47. Then rousing himself: "Eh, well, madame. You have been extremely amiable48 to come. I held to it very much--that you should come. It is because of you I quit Paris."
She resented the speech by a frown.
"Ah!" he implored49 in a whisper. "Do not do that. Smile on me. After all, it is not my fault. Remember that this may be the last time I see you, the last time I regard your eyes."
She smiled. She was convinced of the genuineness of the emotion which expressed itself in all this flamboyant50 behaviour. And she had to make excuses to herself on behalf of Chirac. She smiled to give him pleasure. The hard commonsense51 in her might sneer52, but indubitably she was the centre of a romantic episode. The balloon darkly swinging there! The men waiting! The secrecy53 of the mission! And Chirac, bare-headed in the wind that was to whisk him away, telling her in fatalistic accents that her image had devastated54 his life, while envious55 aspirants56 watched their colloquy57! Yes, it was romantic. And she was beautiful! Her beauty was an active reality that went about the world playing tricks in spite of herself. The thoughts that passed through her mind were the large, splendid thoughts of romance. And it was Chirac who had aroused them! A real drama existed, then, triumphing over the accidental absurdities58 and pettinesses of the situation. Her final words to Chirac were tender and encouraging.
He hurried back to the balloon, resuming his cap. He was received with the respect due to one who comes fresh from conquest. He was sacred.
Sophia rejoined Carlier, who had withdrawn59, and began to talk to him with a self-conscious garrulity61. She spoke without reason and scarcely noticed what she was saying. Already Chirac was snatched out of her life, as other beings, so many of them, had been snatched. She thought of their first meetings, and of the sympathy which had always united them. He had lost his simplicity62, now, in the self-created crisis of his fate, and had sunk in her esteem63. And she was determined64 to like him all the more because he had sunk in her esteem. She wondered whether he really had undertaken this adventure from sentimental65 disappointment. She wondered whether, if she had not forgotten to wind her watch one night, they would still have been living quietly under the same roof in the Rue66 Breda.
The sailor climbed definitely into the car; he had covered himself with a large cloak. Chirac had got one leg over the side of the car, and eight men were standing by the ropes, when a horse's hoofs67 clattered68 through the guarded entrance to the courtyard, amid an uproar69 of sudden excitement. The shiny chest of the horse was flecked with the classic foam70.
"A telegram from the Governor of Paris!"
As the orderly, checking his mount, approached the group, even the old man with the watch raised his hat. The orderly responded, bent71 down to make an inquiry72, which Chirac answered, and then, with another exchange of salutes73, the official telegram was handed over to Chirac, and the horse backed away from the crowd. It was quite thrilling. Carlier was thrilled.
"He is never too prompt, the Governor. It is a quality!" said Carlier, with irony74.
Chirac entered the car. And then the old man with the watch drew a black bag from the shadow behind him and entrusted75 it to Chirac, who accepted it with a profound deference76 and hid it. The sailor began to issue commands. The men at the ropes were bending down now. Suddenly the balloon rose about a foot and trembled. The sailor continued to shout. All the persons of authority gazed motionless at the balloon. The moment of suspense77 was eternal.
"Let go all!" cried the sailor, standing up, and clinging to the cordage. Chirac was seated in the car, a mass of dark fur with a small patch of white in it. The men at the ropes were a knot of struggling confused figures.
One side of the car tilted78 up, and the sailor was nearly pitched out. Three men at the other side had failed to free the ropes.
"Let go, corpses79!" the sailor yelled at them.
The balloon jumped, as if it were drawn60 by some terrific impulse from the skies.
"Adieu!" called Chirac, pulling his cap off and waving it. "Adieu!"
"Bon voyage! Bon voyage!" the little crowd cheered. And then, "Vive la France!" Throats tightened80, including Sophia's.
But the top of the balloon had leaned over, destroying its pear- shape, and the whole mass swerved81 violently towards the wall of the station, the car swinging under it like a toy, and an anchor under the car. There was a cry of alarm. Then the great ball leaped again, and swept over the high glass roof, escaping by inches the spouting82. The cheers expired instantly. ... The balloon was gone. It was spirited away as if by some furious and mighty83 power that had grown impatient in waiting for it. There remained for a few seconds on the collective retina of the spectators a vision of the inclined car swinging near the roof like the tail of a kite. And then nothing! Blankness! Blackness! Already the balloon was lost to sight in the vast stormy ocean of the night, a plaything of the winds. The spectators became once more aware of the dull booming of the cannonade. The balloon was already perhaps flying unseen amid the wrack84 over those guns.
Sophia involuntarily caught her breath. A chill sense of loneliness, of purposelessness, numbed85 her being.
Nobody ever saw Chirac or the old sailor again. The sea must have swallowed them. Of the sixty-five balloons that left Paris during the siege, two were not heard of. This was the first of the two. Chirac had, at any rate, not magnified the peril86, though his intention was undoubtedly87 to magnify it.
1 monstrous | |
adj.巨大的;恐怖的;可耻的,丢脸的 | |
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2 agitating | |
搅动( agitate的现在分词 ); 激怒; 使焦虑不安; (尤指为法律、社会状况的改变而)激烈争论 | |
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3 silhouetted | |
显出轮廓的,显示影像的 | |
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4 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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5 plunging | |
adj.跳进的,突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 );暴跌;骤降;突降 | |
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6 maliciously | |
adv.有敌意地 | |
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7 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 | |
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8 savagery | |
n.野性 | |
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9 barbarians | |
n.野蛮人( barbarian的名词复数 );外国人;粗野的人;无教养的人 | |
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10 tariff | |
n.关税,税率;(旅馆、饭店等)价目表,收费表 | |
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11 metropolis | |
n.首府;大城市 | |
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12 deserted | |
adj.荒芜的,荒废的,无人的,被遗弃的 | |
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13 caresses | |
爱抚,抚摸( caress的名词复数 ) | |
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14 upwards | |
adv.向上,在更高处...以上 | |
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15 distinguished | |
adj.卓越的,杰出的,著名的 | |
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16 blurred | |
v.(使)变模糊( blur的过去式和过去分词 );(使)难以区分;模模糊糊;迷离 | |
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17 ascending | |
adj.上升的,向上的 | |
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18 savages | |
未开化的人,野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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19 colonnade | |
n.柱廊 | |
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20 imperative | |
n.命令,需要;规则;祈使语气;adj.强制的;紧急的 | |
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21 grotesque | |
adj.怪诞的,丑陋的;n.怪诞的图案,怪人(物) | |
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22 feverish | |
adj.发烧的,狂热的,兴奋的 | |
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23 intervals | |
n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 );间隔时间;[数学]区间;(戏剧、电影或音乐会的)幕间休息 | |
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24 scowled | |
怒视,生气地皱眉( scowl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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25 tranquilly | |
adv. 宁静地 | |
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26 deferentially | |
adv.表示敬意地,谦恭地 | |
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27 enveloped | |
v.包围,笼罩,包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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28 dangling | |
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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29 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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30 momentous | |
adj.重要的,重大的 | |
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31 negligently | |
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32 conversing | |
v.交谈,谈话( converse的现在分词 ) | |
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33 acquiescence | |
n.默许;顺从 | |
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34 perfectly | |
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 | |
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35 throng | |
n.人群,群众;v.拥挤,群集 | |
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36 ferment | |
vt.使发酵;n./vt.(使)激动,(使)动乱 | |
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37 victuals | |
n.食物;食品 | |
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38 agitation | |
n.搅动;搅拌;鼓动,煽动 | |
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39 inefficient | |
adj.效率低的,无效的 | |
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40 fussy | |
adj.为琐事担忧的,过分装饰的,爱挑剔的 | |
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41 passionately | |
ad.热烈地,激烈地 | |
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42 furtively | |
adv. 偷偷地, 暗中地 | |
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43 queries | |
n.问题( query的名词复数 );疑问;询问;问号v.质疑,对…表示疑问( query的第三人称单数 );询问 | |
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44 thumped | |
v.重击, (指心脏)急速跳动( thump的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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45 strictly | |
adv.严厉地,严格地;严密地 | |
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46 shrugged | |
vt.耸肩(shrug的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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47 unwillingly | |
adv.不情愿地 | |
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48 amiable | |
adj.和蔼可亲的,友善的,亲切的 | |
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49 implored | |
恳求或乞求(某人)( implore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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50 flamboyant | |
adj.火焰般的,华丽的,炫耀的 | |
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51 commonsense | |
adj.有常识的;明白事理的;注重实际的 | |
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52 sneer | |
v.轻蔑;嘲笑;n.嘲笑,讥讽的言语 | |
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53 secrecy | |
n.秘密,保密,隐蔽 | |
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54 devastated | |
v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词);摧毁;毁灭;在感情上(精神上、财务上等)压垮adj.毁坏的;极为震惊的 | |
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55 envious | |
adj.嫉妒的,羡慕的 | |
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56 aspirants | |
n.有志向或渴望获得…的人( aspirant的名词复数 )v.渴望的,有抱负的,追求名誉或地位的( aspirant的第三人称单数 );有志向或渴望获得…的人 | |
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57 colloquy | |
n.谈话,自由讨论 | |
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58 absurdities | |
n.极端无理性( absurdity的名词复数 );荒谬;谬论;荒谬的行为 | |
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59 withdrawn | |
vt.收回;使退出;vi.撤退,退出 | |
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60 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
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61 garrulity | |
n.饶舌,多嘴 | |
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62 simplicity | |
n.简单,简易;朴素;直率,单纯 | |
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63 esteem | |
n.尊敬,尊重;vt.尊重,敬重;把…看作 | |
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64 determined | |
adj.坚定的;有决心的 | |
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65 sentimental | |
adj.多愁善感的,感伤的 | |
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66 rue | |
n.懊悔,芸香,后悔;v.后悔,悲伤,懊悔 | |
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67 hoofs | |
n.(兽的)蹄,马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.(兽的)蹄,马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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68 clattered | |
发出咔哒声(clatter的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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69 uproar | |
n.骚动,喧嚣,鼎沸 | |
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70 foam | |
v./n.泡沫,起泡沫 | |
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71 bent | |
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
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72 inquiry | |
n.打听,询问,调查,查问 | |
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73 salutes | |
n.致敬,欢迎,敬礼( salute的名词复数 )v.欢迎,致敬( salute的第三人称单数 );赞扬,赞颂 | |
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74 irony | |
n.反语,冷嘲;具有讽刺意味的事,嘲弄 | |
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75 entrusted | |
v.委托,托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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76 deference | |
n.尊重,顺从;敬意 | |
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77 suspense | |
n.(对可能发生的事)紧张感,担心,挂虑 | |
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78 tilted | |
v. 倾斜的 | |
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79 corpses | |
n.死尸,尸体( corpse的名词复数 ) | |
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80 tightened | |
收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 ); (使)变紧; (使)绷紧; 加紧 | |
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81 swerved | |
v.(使)改变方向,改变目的( swerve的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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82 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 | |
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83 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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84 wrack | |
v.折磨;n.海草 | |
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85 numbed | |
v.使麻木,使麻痹( numb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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86 peril | |
n.(严重的)危险;危险的事物 | |
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87 undoubtedly | |
adv.确实地,无疑地 | |
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