Now he tried to reason why he had run. They were his own kind, they would take him out of the loneliness of a world heretofore empty of his species. But that tall man—the one who had led the party into the irregular clearing about the life boat—
Rynch shivered, dug his nails into the wood on which he lay. At the sight of that man, dream and reality had crashed together, sending him into panic-stricken flight. That was the man from the room—the man with the cup!
As his heart quieted he began to think more coherently. First, he had not been able to find the strong-jaws's den3. Then the marks on the ground at the point from which he had fallen and the L-B were here, just as he remembered. But not far from the small ship he had discovered something more—a campsite with a shelter fashioned out of spalls and vines, containing possessions a castaway might have accumulated.
That man would come, Rynch was sure of that, but he was too spent to struggle on.
No, the answer to every part of the puzzle lay with that man. To go back to the ship clearing was to risk capture—but he had to know. Rynch looked with more attention at his present surroundings. Deep mold under the trees here[35] would hold tracks. There might just be another way to move. He eyed the spread of limbs on a neighbor tree.
His journey through those heights was awkward and he sweated and cringed when he disturbed vocal4 treetop dwellers5. He was also to discover that close to the site of the L-B crash others waited.
He huddled6 against the bole of a tree when he made out the curve of a round bulk holding tight to the tree trunk aloft. Though it was balled in upon itself he was sure the creature was fully7 as large as he, and the menacing claws suggested it was a formidable opponent.
When it made no move to follow him Rynch began to hope it had only been defending its own hiding place, for its present attitude suggested concealment8.
Still facing that featureless blob in the tree, the man retreated, alert for the first sign of advance on the part of the creature above. None came, and he dared to slip around the bole of the tree under which he stood, listening intently for any corresponding movement overhead. Now he was facing that survivor's camp.
Another object crouched10 in the dark of the lean-to shelter, just as its fellow was on sentry12 duty in the tree! Only this one did not have the self-color of the foliage13 to disguise it. Four-limbed, its long forearms curved about its bent14 knees, its general outline almost that of a human—if a human went clothed in a thick fuzz. The head hunched15 right against the shoulders as if the neck were very short, or totally lacking, was pear-shaped, with the longer end to the back, and the sense organs of eyes and nose squeezed together on the lower quarter of the rounded portion, with a line of wide mouth to split the blunt round of the muzzle16. Dark pits for eyes showed no pupil, iris17, or cornea. The nose was a black, perfectly18 rounded tube jutting19 an inch or so beyond the cheek surface. Grotesque20, alien and terrifying, it made no hostile move. And, since it had not turned its head, he could not be sure it had even sighted him. But it knew he was there, he was certain of that. And was waiting—for what? As the long seconds crawled by Rynch began to believe that it was not waiting for him. Heartened, he pulled at the vine loop, climbed back into the tree.
Minutes later he discovered that there were more than two of the beasts waiting quietly about the camp, and that[36] their sentry line ran between him and the clearing of the L-B. He withdrew farther into the wood, intent upon finding a detour21 which would bring him out into the open lands. Now he wanted to join forces with his own kind, whether those men were potential enemies or not.
As time passed the beasts closed about the clearing of the camp. Afternoon was fading into evening when he reached a point several miles downstream near the river. Since he had come into the open he had not sighted any of the watchers. He hoped they did not willingly venture out of the trees where the leaves were their protection.
Rynch went flat on the stream bank, made a worm's progress up the slope to crouch11 behind a bush and survey the land immediately ahead. There stood an off-world spacer, fins down, nose skyward, and grouped not too far from its landing ramp22, a collection of bubble tents. A fire burned in their midst and men were moving about it.
Now that he was free from the wood and its watchers and had come so near to his goal, Rynch was curiously23 reluctant to do the sensible thing, to rise out of concealment and walk up to that fire, to claim rescue by his own kind.
The man he sought stood by the fire, shrugging his arms into a webbing harness which brought a box against his chest. Having made that fast he picked up a needler by its sling24. By their gestures the others were arguing with him, but he shook his head, came on, to be a shadow stalking among other shadows. One of the men trailed him, but as they reached a post planted a little beyond the bubble tents he stopped, allowed the explorer to advance alone into the dark.
Rynch went to cover under a bush. The man was heading to the stream bed. Had they somehow learned of his own presence nearby, were they out to find him? But the preparations the tall man had made seemed more suited to going on patrol. The watchers! Was the other out to spy on them? That idea made sense. And in the meantime he would let the other past him, follow along behind until he was far enough from the camp so that his friends could not interfere—then, they would have a meeting!
Rynch's fingers balled into fists. He would find out what was real, what was a dream in this crazy, mixed up mind of his! That other would know, and would tell him the truth![37]
Alert as he was, he lost sight of the stranger who melted into the dusky cover of the shadows. Then came a quiet ripple25 of water close to his own hiding place. The man from the spacer camp was using the stream as his road.
In spite of his caution Rynch was close to betrayal as he edged around a clump26 of vegetation growing half in, half out of the stream. Only a timely rustle27 told him that the other had sat down on a drift log.
Waiting for him? Rynch froze, so startled that he could not think clearly for a second. Then he noted28 that the outline of the other's body was visible, growing brighter by the moment.
Minute particles of pale-greenish radiance were gathering29 about the other. The dark shadow of an arm flapped, the radiance swirled30, broke again into pinpoint31 sparks.
Rynch glanced down at his own body—the same sparks were drifting in about him, edging his arms, thighs32, chest. He pushed back into the bushes while the sparks still flitted, but they no longer gathered in strength enough to light his presence. Now he could see they drifted about the vegetation, about the log where the man sat, about rocks and reeds. Only they were thicker about the stranger as if his body were a magnet. He continued to keep them whirling by means of waving hand and arm, but there was enough light to show Rynch the fingers of his other hand, busy on the front panel of the box he wore.
That fingering stopped, then Rynch's head came up as he heard a very faint sound. Not a beast's cry—or was it?
Again those fingers moved on the panel. Was the other sending a message by that means? Rynch watched him check the webbing, count the equipment at his belt, settle the needler in the crook33 of his arm. Then the stranger left the stream, headed towards the woods.
Rynch jumped to his feet, a cry of warning shaping, but not to be uttered. He padded after the other. There was plenty of time to stop the man before he reached the danger which might lurk34 under the trees.
However the other was as wary35 of that dark as if he suspected what might lie in wait there. He angled along northward36, avoiding clumps37 of scattered38 brush, keeping in the open where Rynch dared not tail him too closely.
Their course, parallel to the woods, brought them at last[38] to a second stream, the size of a river, into which the first creek39 emptied. Here the other settled down between two rocks with every indication of remaining there for a period.
Thankfully Rynch found his own lurking40 place from which he could keep the other in sight. The light points gathered, hung in a small luminous41 cloud over the rocks. But Rynch had prudently42 withdrawn43 under a bush, and the scent44 of its aromatic45 leaves must have discouraged the sparks, for no such crown came to his sentry post.
Drugged with fatigue46, the younger man slept, awaking to full day, a fog of bewilderment and disorientation. To open his eyes to this blue-green pocket instead of to four dirty walls, was wrong.
Remembering, he started up and slunk down the slope, angry at his failure. He found the other's track, not turning back as he had half feared, cleanly printed on level spots of wet earth—eastward now. What was the purpose of the other's expedition? Was he going to use the open cut through which the river ran as a way of penetrating47 the wooded country?
Now Rynch considered the problem from his own angle. The man from the spacer had made no effort to conceal9 his trail, in fact it would almost seem that he had deliberately48 gone out of his way to leave boot prints on favorable stretches of ground. Did he guess that Rynch lurked49 behind, was now leading him on for some purpose of his own? Or were those traces left to guide another party from the camp?
To advance openly up the stream bed was to invite discovery. Rynch surveyed the nearer bank. Clumps of small trees and high growing bushes dotted that expanse, an ideal cover.
He was hardly out of sight of the bush which had sheltered him when he heard the coughing roar of a water-cat. And the feline50 was attacking an enemy, enraged51 to the pitch of vocal frenzy52. Rynch ran a zigzag53 course from one clump of bush to the next. That sound of snarling54, spitting hate ended in mid-cry as Rynch crawled to the river bank.
The man from the spacer camp had been the focus of a three-prong attack from a female and her cubs55. Three red bodies were flat and still on the gravel56 as the off-worlder leaned back against a rock breathing heavily. As Rynch sighted him, he stooped to recover the needler he had[39] dropped, lurched away from the rock towards the water, and so blundered straight into another Jumalan trap.
His unsteady foot advancing for another step came down on a slippery surface, and he fell forward as his legs were engulfed57 in the trap burrow58 of a strong-jaws. With a startled cry the man dropped the needler again, clawed at the ground about him. Already he was buried to his knees, then his mid-thighs, in the artificial quicksand. But he had not lost his head and was jerking from side to side in an effort to pull free.
Rynch got to his feet, walked with slow deliberation down to the river's brink59. The trapped prisoner had shied halfway60 around, stretching out his arms to find a firmer grip on some rock large and heavy enough to anchor him. After his first startled cry he had made no sound, but now, as he sighted Rynch, his eyes widened and his lips parted.
The box on his chest caught on a stone he had dragged to him in a desperate try for support. There was a spitting of sparks and the stranger worked frantically61 at the buckle62 of the webbing harness to loosen it and toss the whole thing from him. The box struck one of the dead water-cats, flashed as fur and flesh were singed63.
Rynch watched dispassionately before he caught the needler, jerking it away from the prisoner. The man eyed him steadily64, and his expression did not alter even when Rynch swung the off-world weapon to center its sights on the late owner.
The man nodded. "As you wish, Brodie."
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收听单词发音
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1
laboring
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| n.劳动，操劳v.努力争取(for)( labor的现在分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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fins
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| [医]散热片；鱼鳍；飞边；鸭掌 | |
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3
den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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vocal
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| adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目 | |
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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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huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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7
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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concealment
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| n.隐藏, 掩盖，隐瞒 | |
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conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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10
crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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crouch
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| v.蹲伏，蜷缩，低头弯腰；n.蹲伏 | |
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12
sentry
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| n.哨兵，警卫 | |
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13
foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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14
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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15
hunched
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| （常指因寒冷、生病或愁苦）耸肩弓身的，伏首前倾的 | |
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16
muzzle
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| n.鼻口部；口套；枪(炮)口；vt.使缄默 | |
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iris
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| n.虹膜，彩虹 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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19
jutting
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| v.（使）突出( jut的现在分词 )；伸出；（从…）突出；高出 | |
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20
grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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21
detour
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| n.绕行的路，迂回路；v.迂回，绕道 | |
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22
ramp
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| n.暴怒，斜坡，坡道；vi.作恐吓姿势，暴怒，加速；vt.加速 | |
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23
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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24
sling
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| vt.扔；悬挂；n.挂带；吊索，吊兜；弹弓 | |
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25
ripple
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| n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进 | |
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26
clump
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| n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走 | |
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27
rustle
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| v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声 | |
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28
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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29
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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30
swirled
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| v.旋转，打旋( swirl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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31
pinpoint
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| vt.准确地确定；用针标出…的精确位置 | |
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32
thighs
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| n.股，大腿( thigh的名词复数 )；食用的鸡（等的）腿 | |
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33
crook
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| v.使弯曲；n.小偷，骗子，贼；弯曲(处) | |
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34
lurk
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| n.潜伏，潜行；v.潜藏，潜伏，埋伏 | |
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35
wary
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| adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的 | |
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36
northward
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| adv.向北；n.北方的地区 | |
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37
clumps
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| n.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的名词复数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声v.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的第三人称单数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声 | |
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38
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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39
creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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40
lurking
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| 潜在 | |
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41
luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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42
prudently
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| adv. 谨慎地，慎重地 | |
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43
withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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44
scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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45
aromatic
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| adj.芳香的，有香味的 | |
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46
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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47
penetrating
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| adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的 | |
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48
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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49
lurked
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| vi.潜伏，埋伏（lurk的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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50
feline
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| adj.猫科的 | |
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51
enraged
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| 使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 )； 歜； 激愤 | |
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52
frenzy
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| n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动 | |
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53
zigzag
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| n.曲折，之字形；adj.曲折的，锯齿形的；adv.曲折地，成锯齿形地；vt.使曲折；vi.曲折前行 | |
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54
snarling
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| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的现在分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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55
cubs
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| n.幼小的兽，不懂规矩的年轻人( cub的名词复数 ) | |
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56
gravel
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| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
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57
engulfed
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| v.吞没，包住( engulf的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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58
burrow
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| vt.挖掘(洞穴)；钻进；vi.挖洞；翻寻；n.地洞 | |
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59
brink
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| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
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60
halfway
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| adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途 | |
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61
frantically
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| ad.发狂地, 发疯地 | |
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62
buckle
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| n.扣子，带扣；v.把...扣住，由于压力而弯曲 | |
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63
singed
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| v.浅表烧焦( singe的过去式和过去分词 )；（毛发）燎，烧焦尖端[边儿] | |
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64
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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65
rusty
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| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
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