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首页 » 英文励志小说 » The Cruise of the Snark17章节 » CHAPTER IV FINDING ONE’S WAY ABOUT
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CHAPTER IV FINDING ONE’S WAY ABOUT
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 “But,” our friends objected, “how dare you go to sea without a navigator on board?  You’re not a navigator, are you?”
 
I had to confess that I was not a navigator, that I had never looked through a sextant in my life, and that I doubted if I could tell a sextant from a nautical1 almanac.  And when they asked if Roscoe was a navigator, I shook my head.  Roscoe resented this.  He had glanced at the “Epitome,” bought for our voyage, knew how to use logarithm tables, had seen a sextant at some time, and, what of this and of his seafaring ancestry2, he concluded that he did know navigation.  But Roscoe was wrong, I still insist.  When a young boy he came from Maine to California by way of the Isthmus3 of Panama, and that was the only time in his life that he was out of sight of land.  He had never gone to a school of navigation, nor passed an examination in the same; nor had he sailed the deep sea and learned the art from some other navigator.  He was a San Francisco Bay yachtsman, where land is always only several miles away and the art of navigation is never employed.
 
So the Snark started on her long voyage without a navigator.  We beat through the Golden Gate on April 23, and headed for the Hawaiian Islands, twenty-one hundred sea-miles away as the gull4 flies.  And the outcome was our justification5.  We arrived.  And we arrived, furthermore, without any trouble, as you shall see; that is, without any trouble to amount to anything.  To begin with, Roscoe tackled the navigating6.  He had the theory all right, but it was the first time he had ever applied7 it, as was evidenced by the erratic8 behaviour of the Snark.  Not but what the Snark was perfectly9 steady on the sea; the pranks10 she cut were on the chart.  On a day with a light breeze she would make a jump on the chart that advertised “a wet sail and a flowing sheet,” and on a day when she just raced over the ocean, she scarcely changed her position on the chart.  Now when one’s boat has logged six knots for twenty-four consecutive11 hours, it is incontestable that she has covered one hundred and forty-four miles of ocean.  The ocean was all right, and so was the patent log; as for speed, one saw it with his own eyes.  Therefore the thing that was not all right was the figuring that refused to boost the Snark along over the chart.  Not that this happened every day, but that it did happen.  And it was perfectly proper and no more than was to be expected from a first attempt at applying a theory.
 
The acquisition of the knowledge of navigation has a strange effect on the minds of men.  The average navigator speaks of navigation with deep respect.  To the layman13 navigation is a deed and awful mystery, which feeling has been generated in him by the deep and awful respect for navigation that the layman has seen displayed by navigators.  I have known frank, ingenuous14, and modest young men, open as the day, to learn navigation and at once betray secretiveness, reserve, and self-importance as if they had achieved some tremendous intellectual attainment15.  The average navigator impresses the layman as a priest of some holy rite16.  With bated breath, the amateur yachtsman navigator invites one in to look at his chronometer17.  And so it was that our friends suffered such apprehension18 at our sailing without a navigator.
 
During the building of the Snark, Roscoe and I had an agreement, something like this: “I’ll furnish the books and instruments,” I said, “and do you study up navigation now.  I’ll be too busy to do any studying.  Then, when we get to sea, you can teach me what you have learned.”  Roscoe was delighted.  Furthermore, Roscoe was as frank and ingenuous and modest as the young men I have described.  But when we got out to sea and he began to practise the holy rite, while I looked on admiringly, a change, subtle and distinctive19, marked his bearing.  When he shot the sun at noon, the glow of achievement wrapped him in lambent flame.  When he went below, figured out his observation, and then returned on deck and announced our latitude21 and longitude22, there was an authoritative23 ring in his voice that was new to all of us.  But that was not the worst of it.  He became filled with incommunicable information.  And the more he discovered the reasons for the erratic jumps of the Snark over the chart, and the less the Snark jumped, the more incommunicable and holy and awful became his information.  My mild suggestions that it was about time that I began to learn, met with no hearty24 response, with no offers on his part to help me.  He displayed not the slightest intention of living up to our agreement.
 
Now this was not Roscoe’s fault; he could not help it.  He had merely gone the way of all the men who learned navigation before him.  By an understandable and forgivable confusion of values, plus a loss of orientation26, he felt weighted by responsibility, and experienced the possession of power that was like unto that of a god.  All his life Roscoe had lived on land, and therefore in sight of land.  Being constantly in sight of land, with landmarks27 to guide him, he had managed, with occasional difficulties, to steer28 his body around and about the earth.  Now he found himself on the sea, wide-stretching, bounded only by the eternal circle of the sky.  This circle looked always the same.  There were no landmarks.  The sun rose to the east and set to the west and the stars wheeled through the night.  But who may look at the sun or the stars and say, “My place on the face of the earth at the present moment is four and three-quarter miles to the west of Jones’s Cash Store of Smithersville”? or “I know where I am now, for the Little Dipper informs me that Boston is three miles away on the second turning to the right”?  And yet that was precisely29 what Roscoe did.  That he was astounded30 by the achievement, is putting it mildly.  He stood in reverential awe31 of himself; he had performed a miraculous32 feat33.  The act of finding himself on the face of the waters became a rite, and he felt himself a superior being to the rest of us who knew not this rite and were dependent on him for being shepherded across the heaving and limitless waste, the briny34 highroad that connects the continents and whereon there are no mile-stones.  So, with the sextant he made obeisance35 to the sun-god, he consulted ancient tomes and tables of magic characters, muttered prayers in a strange tongue that sounded like Indexerrorparallaxrefraction, made cabalistic signs on paper, added and carried one, and then, on a piece of holy script called the Grail—I mean the Chart—he placed his finger on a certain space conspicuous36 for its blankness and said, “Here we are.”  When we looked at the blank space and asked, “And where is that?” he answered in the cipher-code of the higher priesthood, “31-15-47 north, 133-5-30 west.”  And we said “Oh,” and felt mighty37 small.
 
So I aver12, it was not Roscoe’s fault.  He was like unto a god, and he carried us in the hollow of his hand across the blank spaces on the chart.  I experienced a great respect for Roscoe; this respect grew so profound that had he commanded, “Kneel down and worship me,” I know that I should have flopped38 down on the deck and yammered.  But, one day, there came a still small thought to me that said: “This is not a god; this is Roscoe, a mere25 man like myself.  What he has done, I can do.  Who taught him?  Himself.  Go you and do likewise—be your own teacher.”  And right there Roscoe crashed, and he was high priest of the Snark no longer.  I invaded the sanctuary39 and demanded the ancient tomes and magic tables, also the prayer-wheel—the sextant, I mean.
 
And now, in simple language.  I shall describe how I taught myself navigation.  One whole afternoon I sat in the cockpit, steering40 with one hand and studying logarithms with the other.  Two afternoons, two hours each, I studied the general theory of navigation and the particular process of taking a meridian41 altitude.  Then I took the sextant, worked out the index error, and shot the sun.  The figuring from the data of this observation was child’s play.  In the “Epitome” and the “Nautical Almanac” were scores of cunning tables, all worked out by mathematicians42 and astronomers43.  It was like using interest tables and lightning-calculator tables such as you all know.  The mystery was mystery no longer.  I put my finger on the chart and announced that that was where we were.  I was right too, or at least I was as right as Roscoe, who selected a spot a quarter of a mile away from mine.  Even he was willing to split the distance with me.  I had exploded the mystery, and yet, such was the miracle of it, I was conscious of new power in me, and I felt the thrill and tickle44 of pride.  And when Martin asked me, in the same humble45 and respectful way I had previously46 asked Roscoe, as to where we were, it was with exaltation and spiritual chest-throwing that I answered in the cipher-code of the higher priesthood and heard Martin’s self-abasing and worshipful “Oh.”  As for Charmian, I felt that in a new way I had proved my right to her; and I was aware of another feeling, namely, that she was a most fortunate woman to have a man like me.
 
I couldn’t help it.  I tell it as a vindication47 of Roscoe and all the other navigators.  The poison of power was working in me.  I was not as other men—most other men; I knew what they did not know,—the mystery of the heavens, that pointed48 out the way across the deep.  And the taste of power I had received drove me on.  I steered49 at the wheel long hours with one hand, and studied mystery with the other.  By the end of the week, teaching myself, I was able to do divers50 things.  For instance, I shot the North Star, at night, of course; got its altitude, corrected for index error, dip, etc., and found our latitude.  And this latitude agreed with the latitude of the previous noon corrected by dead reckoning up to that moment.  Proud?  Well, I was even prouder with my next miracle.  I was going to turn in at nine o’clock.  I worked out the problem, self-instructed, and learned what star of the first magnitude would be passing the meridian around half-past eight.  This star proved to be Alpha Crucis.  I had never heard of the star before.  I looked it up on the star map.  It was one of the stars of the Southern Cross.  What! thought I; have we been sailing with the Southern Cross in the sky of nights and never known it?  Dolts51 that we are!  Gudgeons and moles52!  I couldn’t believe it.  I went over the problem again, and verified it.  Charmian had the wheel from eight till ten that evening.  I told her to keep her eyes open and look due south for the Southern Cross.  And when the stars came out, there shone the Southern Cross low on the horizon.  Proud?  No medicine man nor high priest was ever prouder.  Furthermore, with the prayer-wheel I shot Alpha Crucis and from its altitude worked out our latitude.  And still furthermore, I shot the North Star, too, and it agreed with what had been told me by the Southern Cross.  Proud?  Why, the language of the stars was mine, and I listened and heard them telling me my way over the deep.
 
Proud?  I was a worker of miracles.  I forgot how easily I had taught myself from the printed page.  I forgot that all the work (and a tremendous work, too) had been done by the masterminds before me, the astronomers and mathematicians, who had discovered and elaborated the whole science of navigation and made the tables in the “Epitome.”  I remembered only the everlasting53 miracle of it—that I had listened to the voices of the stars and been told my place upon the highway of the sea.  Charmian did not know, Martin did not know, Tochigi, the cabin-boy, did not know.  But I told them.  I was God’s messenger.  I stood between them and infinity54.  I translated the high celestial55 speech into terms of their ordinary understanding.  We were heaven-directed, and it was I who could read the sign-post of the sky!—I!  I!
 
And now, in a cooler moment, I hasten to blab the whole simplicity56 of it, to blab on Roscoe and the other navigators and the rest of the priesthood, all for fear that I may become even as they, secretive, immodest, and inflated57 with self-esteem.  And I want to say this now: any young fellow with ordinary gray matter, ordinary education, and with the slightest trace of the student-mind, can get the books, and charts, and instruments and teach himself navigation.  Now I must not be misunderstood.  Seamanship is an entirely58 different matter.  It is not learned in a day, nor in many days; it requires years.  Also, navigating by dead reckoning requires long study and practice.  But navigating by observations of the sun, moon, and stars, thanks to the astronomers and mathematicians, is child’s play.  Any average young fellow can teach himself in a week.  And yet again I must not be misunderstood.  I do not mean to say that at the end of a week a young fellow could take charge of a fifteen-thousand-ton steamer, driving twenty knots an hour through the brine, racing59 from land to land, fair weather and foul60, clear sky or cloudy, steering by degrees on the compass card and making landfalls with most amazing precision.  But what I do mean is just this: the average young fellow I have described can get into a staunch sail-boat and put out across the ocean, without knowing anything about navigation, and at the end of the week he will know enough to know where he is on the chart.  He will be able to take a meridian observation with fair accuracy, and from that observation, with ten minutes of figuring, work out his latitude and longitude.  And, carrying neither freight nor passengers, being under no press to reach his destination, he can jog comfortably along, and if at any time he doubts his own navigation and fears an imminent61 landfall, he can heave to all night and proceed in the morning.
 
Joshua Slocum sailed around the world a few years ago in a thirty-seven-foot boat all by himself.  I shall never forget, in his narrative62 of the voyage, where he heartily63 indorsed the idea of young men, in similar small boats, making similar voyage.  I promptly64 indorsed his idea, and so heartily that I took my wife along.  While it certainly makes a Cook’s tour look like thirty cents, on top of that, amid on top of the fun and pleasure, it is a splendid education for a young man—oh, not a mere education in the things of the world outside, of lands, and peoples, and climates, but an education in the world inside, an education in one’s self, a chance to learn one’s own self, to get on speaking terms with one’s soul.  Then there is the training and the disciplining of it.  First, naturally, the young fellow will learn his limitations; and next, inevitably65, he will proceed to press back those limitations.  And he cannot escape returning from such a voyage a bigger and better man.  And as for sport, it is a king’s sport, taking one’s self around the world, doing it with one’s own hands, depending on no one but one’s self, and at the end, back at the starting-point, contemplating66 with inner vision the planet rushing through space, and saying, “I did it; with my own hands I did it.  I went clear around that whirling sphere, and I can travel alone, without any nurse of a sea-captain to guide my steps across the seas.  I may not fly to other stars, but of this star I myself am master.”
 
As I write these lines I lift my eyes and look seaward.  I am on the beach of Waikiki on the island of Oahu.  Far, in the azure67 sky, the trade-wind clouds drift low over the blue-green turquoise68 of the deep sea.  Nearer, the sea is emerald and light olive-green.  Then comes the reef, where the water is all slaty69 purple flecked with red.  Still nearer are brighter greens and tans, lying in alternate stripes and showing where sandbeds lie between the living coral banks.  Through and over and out of these wonderful colours tumbles and thunders a magnificent surf.  As I say, I lift my eyes to all this, and through the white crest70 of a breaker suddenly appears a dark figure, erect71, a man-fish or a sea-god, on the very forward face of the crest where the top falls over and down, driving in toward shore, buried to his loins in smoking spray, caught up by the sea and flung landward, bodily, a quarter of a mile.  It is a Kanaka on a surf-board.  And I know that when I have finished these lines I shall be out in that riot of colour and pounding surf, trying to bit those breakers even as he, and failing as he never failed, but living life as the best of us may live it.  And the picture of that coloured sea and that flying sea-god Kanaka becomes another reason for the young man to go west, and farther west, beyond the Baths of Sunset, and still west till he arrives home again.
 
But to return.  Please do not think that I already know it all.  I know only the rudiments72 of navigation.  There is a vast deal yet for me to learn.  On the Snark there is a score of fascinating books on navigation waiting for me.  There is the danger-angle of Lecky, there is the line of Sumner, which, when you know least of all where you are, shows most conclusively73 where you are, and where you are not.  There are dozens and dozens of methods of finding one’s location on the deep, and one can work years before he masters it all in all its fineness.
 
Even in the little we did learn there were slips that accounted for the apparently74 antic behaviour of the Snark.  On Thursday, May 16, for instance, the trade wind failed us.  During the twenty-four hours that ended Friday at noon, by dead reckoning we had not sailed twenty miles. 
 
The difference between the two positions was something like eighty miles.  Yet we knew we had not travelled twenty miles.  Now our figuring was all right.  We went over it several times.  What was wrong was the observations we had taken.  To take a correct observation requires practice and skill, and especially so on a small craft like the Snark.  The violently moving boat and the closeness of the observer’s eye to the surface of the water are to blame.  A big wave that lifts up a mile off is liable to steal the horizon away.
 
But in our particular case there was another perturbing75 factor.  The sun, in its annual march north through the heavens, was increasing its declination.  On the 19th parallel of north latitude in the middle of May the sun is nearly overhead.  The angle of arc was between eighty-eight and eighty-nine degrees.  Had it been ninety degrees it would have been straight overhead.  It was on another day that we learned a few things about taking the altitude of the almost perpendicular76 sun.  Roscoe started in drawing the sun down to the eastern horizon, and he stayed by that point of the compass despite the fact that the sun would pass the meridian to the south.  I, on the other hand, started in to draw the sun down to south-east and strayed away to the south-west.  You see, we were teaching ourselves.  As a result, at twenty-five minutes past twelve by the ship’s time, I called twelve o’clock by the sun.  Now this signified that we had changed our location on the face of the world by twenty-five minutes, which was equal to something like six degrees of longitude, or three hundred and fifty miles.  This showed the Snark had travelled fifteen knots per hour for twenty-four consecutive hours—and we had never noticed it!  It was absurd and grotesque77.  But Roscoe, still looking east, averred78 that it was not yet twelve o’clock.  He was bent20 on giving us a twenty-knot clip.  Then we began to train our sextants rather wildly all around the horizon, and wherever we looked, there was the sun, puzzlingly close to the sky-line, sometimes above it and sometimes below it.  In one direction the sun was proclaiming morning, in another direction it was proclaiming afternoon.  The sun was all right—we knew that; therefore we were all wrong.  And the rest of the afternoon we spent in the cockpit reading up the matter in the books and finding out what was wrong.  We missed the observation that day, but we didn’t the next.  We had learned.
 
And we learned well, better than for a while we thought we had.  At the beginning of the second dog-watch one evening, Charmian and I sat down on the forecastle-head for a rubber of cribbage.  Chancing to glance ahead, I saw cloud-capped mountains rising from the sea.  We were rejoiced at the sight of land, but I was in despair over our navigation.  I thought we had learned something, yet our position at noon, plus what we had run since, did not put us within a hundred miles of land.  But there was the land, fading away before our eyes in the fires of sunset.  The land was all right.  There was no disputing it.  Therefore our navigation was all wrong.  But it wasn’t.  That land we saw was the summit of Haleakala, the House of the Sun, the greatest extinct volcano in the world.  It towered ten thousand feet above the sea, and it was all of a hundred miles away.  We sailed all night at a seven-knot clip, and in the morning the House of the Sun was still before us, and it took a few more hours of sailing to bring it abreast79 of us.  “That island is Maui,” we said, verifying by the chart.  “That next island sticking out is Molokai, where the lepers are.  And the island next to that is Oahu.  There is Makapuu Head now.  We’ll be in Honolulu to-morrow.  Our navigation is all right.”

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 nautical q5azx     
adj.海上的,航海的,船员的
参考例句:
  • A nautical mile is 1,852 meters.一海里等于1852米。
  • It is 206 nautical miles from our present location.距离我们现在的位置有206海里。
2 ancestry BNvzf     
n.祖先,家世
参考例句:
  • Their ancestry settled the land in 1856.他们的祖辈1856年在这块土地上定居下来。
  • He is an American of French ancestry.他是法国血统的美国人。
3 isthmus z31xr     
n.地峡
参考例句:
  • North America is connected with South America by the Isthmus of Panama.巴拿马海峡把北美同南美连接起来。
  • The north and south of the island are linked by a narrow isthmus.岛的北部和南部由一条狭窄的地峡相连。
4 gull meKzM     
n.鸥;受骗的人;v.欺诈
参考例句:
  • The ivory gull often follows polar bears to feed on the remains of seal kills.象牙海鸥经常跟在北极熊的后面吃剩下的海豹尸体。
  • You are not supposed to gull your friends.你不应该欺骗你的朋友。
5 justification x32xQ     
n.正当的理由;辩解的理由
参考例句:
  • There's no justification for dividing the company into smaller units. 没有理由把公司划分成小单位。
  • In the young there is a justification for this feeling. 在年轻人中有这种感觉是有理由的。
6 navigating 7b03ffaa93948a9ae00f8802b1000da5     
v.给(船舶、飞机等)引航,导航( navigate的现在分词 );(从海上、空中等)横越;横渡;飞跃
参考例句:
  • These can also be very useful when navigating time-based documents, such as video and audio. 它对于和时间有关的文档非常有用,比如视频和音频文档。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
  • Vehicles slowed to a crawl on city roads, navigating slushy snow. 汽车在市区路上行驶缓慢,穿越泥泞的雪地。 来自互联网
7 applied Tz2zXA     
adj.应用的;v.应用,适用
参考例句:
  • She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
  • This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。
8 erratic ainzj     
adj.古怪的,反复无常的,不稳定的
参考例句:
  • The old man had always been cranky and erratic.那老头儿性情古怪,反复无常。
  • The erratic fluctuation of market prices is in consequence of unstable economy.经济波动致使市场物价忽起忽落。
9 perfectly 8Mzxb     
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地
参考例句:
  • The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
  • Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。
10 pranks cba7670310bdd53033e32d6c01506817     
n.玩笑,恶作剧( prank的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Frank's errancy consisted mostly of pranks. 法兰克错在老喜欢恶作剧。 来自辞典例句
  • He always leads in pranks and capers. 他老是带头胡闹和开玩笑。 来自辞典例句
11 consecutive DpPz0     
adj.连续的,联贯的,始终一贯的
参考例句:
  • It has rained for four consecutive days.已连续下了四天雨。
  • The policy of our Party is consecutive.我党的政策始终如一。
12 aver gP1yr     
v.极力声明;断言;确证
参考例句:
  • I aver it will not rain tomorrow.我断言明天不会下雨。
  • In spite of all you say,I still aver that his report is true.不管你怎么说,我还是断言他的报告是真实的。
13 layman T3wy6     
n.俗人,门外汉,凡人
参考例句:
  • These technical terms are difficult for the layman to understand.这些专门术语是外行人难以理解的。
  • He is a layman in politics.他对政治是个门外汉。
14 ingenuous mbNz0     
adj.纯朴的,单纯的;天真的;坦率的
参考例句:
  • Only the most ingenuous person would believe such a weak excuse!只有最天真的人才会相信这么一个站不住脚的借口!
  • With ingenuous sincerity,he captivated his audience.他以自己的率真迷住了观众。
15 attainment Dv3zY     
n.达到,到达;[常pl.]成就,造诣
参考例句:
  • We congratulated her upon her attainment to so great an age.我们祝贺她高寿。
  • The attainment of the success is not easy.成功的取得并不容易。
16 rite yCmzq     
n.典礼,惯例,习俗
参考例句:
  • This festival descends from a religious rite.这个节日起源于宗教仪式。
  • Most traditional societies have transition rites at puberty.大多数传统社会都为青春期的孩子举行成人礼。
17 chronometer CVWyh     
n.精密的计时器
参考例句:
  • Murchison followed with his eye the hand of his chronometer.莫奇生的眼睛追随着他的时计的秒针。
  • My watch is more expensive because it's a chronometer.我的手表是精密型的,所以要比你的贵。
18 apprehension bNayw     
n.理解,领悟;逮捕,拘捕;忧虑
参考例句:
  • There were still areas of doubt and her apprehension grew.有些地方仍然存疑,于是她越来越担心。
  • She is a girl of weak apprehension.她是一个理解力很差的女孩。
19 distinctive Es5xr     
adj.特别的,有特色的,与众不同的
参考例句:
  • She has a very distinctive way of walking.她走路的样子与别人很不相同。
  • This bird has several distinctive features.这个鸟具有几种突出的特征。
20 bent QQ8yD     
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的
参考例句:
  • He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
  • We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。
21 latitude i23xV     
n.纬度,行动或言论的自由(范围),(pl.)地区
参考例句:
  • The latitude of the island is 20 degrees south.该岛的纬度是南纬20度。
  • The two cities are at approximately the same latitude.这两个城市差不多位于同一纬度上。
22 longitude o0ZxR     
n.经线,经度
参考例句:
  • The city is at longitude 21°east.这个城市位于东经21度。
  • He noted the latitude and longitude,then made a mark on the admiralty chart.他记下纬度和经度,然后在航海图上做了个标记。
23 authoritative 6O3yU     
adj.有权威的,可相信的;命令式的;官方的
参考例句:
  • David speaks in an authoritative tone.大卫以命令的口吻说话。
  • Her smile was warm but authoritative.她的笑容很和蔼,同时又透着威严。
24 hearty Od1zn     
adj.热情友好的;衷心的;尽情的,纵情的
参考例句:
  • After work they made a hearty meal in the worker's canteen.工作完了,他们在工人食堂饱餐了一顿。
  • We accorded him a hearty welcome.我们给他热忱的欢迎。
25 mere rC1xE     
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。
26 orientation IJ4xo     
n.方向,目标;熟悉,适应,情况介绍
参考例句:
  • Children need some orientation when they go to school.小孩子上学时需要适应。
  • The traveller found his orientation with the aid of a good map.旅行者借助一幅好地图得知自己的方向。
27 landmarks 746a744ae0fc201cc2f97ab777d21b8c     
n.陆标( landmark的名词复数 );目标;(标志重要阶段的)里程碑 ~ (in sth);有历史意义的建筑物(或遗址)
参考例句:
  • The book stands out as one of the notable landmarks in the progress of modern science. 这部著作是现代科学发展史上著名的里程碑之一。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • The baby was one of the big landmarks in our relationship. 孩子的出世是我们俩关系中的一个重要转折点。 来自辞典例句
28 steer 5u5w3     
vt.驾驶,为…操舵;引导;vi.驾驶
参考例句:
  • If you push the car, I'll steer it.如果你来推车,我就来驾车。
  • It's no use trying to steer the boy into a course of action that suits you.想说服这孩子按你的方式行事是徒劳的。
29 precisely zlWzUb     
adv.恰好,正好,精确地,细致地
参考例句:
  • It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
  • The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。
30 astounded 7541fb163e816944b5753491cad6f61a     
v.使震惊(astound的过去式和过去分词);愕然;愕;惊讶
参考例句:
  • His arrogance astounded her. 他的傲慢使她震惊。
  • How can you say that? I'm absolutely astounded. 你怎么能说出那种话?我感到大为震惊。
31 awe WNqzC     
n.敬畏,惊惧;vt.使敬畏,使惊惧
参考例句:
  • The sight filled us with awe.这景色使我们大为惊叹。
  • The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。
32 miraculous DDdxA     
adj.像奇迹一样的,不可思议的
参考例句:
  • The wounded man made a miraculous recovery.伤员奇迹般地痊愈了。
  • They won a miraculous victory over much stronger enemy.他们战胜了远比自己强大的敌人,赢得了非凡的胜利。
33 feat 5kzxp     
n.功绩;武艺,技艺;adj.灵巧的,漂亮的,合适的
参考例句:
  • Man's first landing on the moon was a feat of great daring.人类首次登月是一个勇敢的壮举。
  • He received a medal for his heroic feat.他因其英雄业绩而获得一枚勋章。
34 briny JxPz6j     
adj.盐水的;很咸的;n.海洋
参考例句:
  • The briny water is not good for the growth of the trees.海水不利于这种树木的生长。
  • The briny air gave a foretaste of the nearby sea.咸空气是快近海的前兆。
35 obeisance fH5xT     
n.鞠躬,敬礼
参考例句:
  • He made obeisance to the king.他向国王表示臣服。
  • While he was still young and strong all paid obeisance to him.他年轻力壮时所有人都对他毕恭毕敬。
36 conspicuous spszE     
adj.明眼的,惹人注目的;炫耀的,摆阔气的
参考例句:
  • It is conspicuous that smoking is harmful to health.很明显,抽烟对健康有害。
  • Its colouring makes it highly conspicuous.它的色彩使它非常惹人注目。
37 mighty YDWxl     
adj.强有力的;巨大的
参考例句:
  • A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
  • The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。
38 flopped e5b342a0b376036c32e5cd7aa560c15e     
v.(指书、戏剧等)彻底失败( flop的过去式和过去分词 );(因疲惫而)猛然坐下;(笨拙地、不由自主地或松弛地)移动或落下;砸锅
参考例句:
  • Exhausted, he flopped down into a chair. 他筋疲力尽,一屁股坐到椅子上。
  • It was a surprise to us when his play flopped. 他那出戏一败涂地,出乎我们的预料。 来自《简明英汉词典》
39 sanctuary iCrzE     
n.圣所,圣堂,寺庙;禁猎区,保护区
参考例句:
  • There was a sanctuary of political refugees behind the hospital.医院后面有一个政治难民的避难所。
  • Most countries refuse to give sanctuary to people who hijack aeroplanes.大多数国家拒绝对劫机者提供庇护。
40 steering 3hRzbi     
n.操舵装置
参考例句:
  • He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration. 他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。
  • Steering according to the wind, he also framed his words more amicably. 他真会看风使舵,口吻也马上变得温和了。
41 meridian f2xyT     
adj.子午线的;全盛期的
参考例句:
  • All places on the same meridian have the same longitude.在同一子午线上的地方都有相同的经度。
  • He is now at the meridian of his intellectual power.他现在正值智力全盛期。
42 mathematicians bca28c194cb123ba0303d3afafc32cb4     
数学家( mathematician的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Do you suppose our mathematicians are unequal to that? 你以为我们的数学家做不到这一点吗? 来自英汉文学
  • Mathematicians can solve problems with two variables. 数学家们可以用两个变数来解决问题。 来自哲学部分
43 astronomers 569155f16962e086bd7de77deceefcbd     
n.天文学者,天文学家( astronomer的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Astronomers can accurately foretell the date,time,and length of future eclipses. 天文学家能精确地预告未来日食月食的日期、时刻和时长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Astronomers used to ask why only Saturn has rings. 天文学家们过去一直感到奇怪,为什么只有土星有光环。 来自《简明英汉词典》
44 tickle 2Jkzz     
v.搔痒,胳肢;使高兴;发痒;n.搔痒,发痒
参考例句:
  • Wilson was feeling restless. There was a tickle in his throat.威尔逊只觉得心神不定。嗓子眼里有些发痒。
  • I am tickle pink at the news.听到这消息我高兴得要命。
45 humble ddjzU     
adj.谦卑的,恭顺的;地位低下的;v.降低,贬低
参考例句:
  • In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见,他将在选举中获胜。
  • Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。
46 previously bkzzzC     
adv.以前,先前(地)
参考例句:
  • The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
  • Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿,解释原先发生了什么。
47 vindication 1LpzF     
n.洗冤,证实
参考例句:
  • There is much to be said in vindication of his claim.有很多理由可以提出来为他的要求作辩护。
  • The result was a vindication of all our efforts.这一结果表明我们的一切努力是必要的。
48 pointed Il8zB4     
adj.尖的,直截了当的
参考例句:
  • He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
  • She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。
49 steered dee52ce2903883456c9b7a7f258660e5     
v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 );操纵;控制;引导
参考例句:
  • He steered the boat into the harbour. 他把船开进港。
  • The freighter steered out of Santiago Bay that evening. 那天晚上货轮驶出了圣地亚哥湾。 来自《简明英汉词典》
50 divers hu9z23     
adj.不同的;种种的
参考例句:
  • He chose divers of them,who were asked to accompany him.他选择他们当中的几个人,要他们和他作伴。
  • Two divers work together while a standby diver remains on the surface.两名潜水员协同工作,同时有一名候补潜水员留在水面上。
51 dolts 0dc94d83e58717b579eabf42355be68f     
n.笨蛋,傻瓜( dolt的名词复数 )
参考例句:
52 moles 2e1eeabf4f0f1abdaca739a4be445d16     
防波堤( mole的名词复数 ); 鼹鼠; 痣; 间谍
参考例句:
  • Unsightly moles can be removed surgically. 不雅观的痣可以手术去除。
  • Two moles of epoxy react with one mole of A-1100. 两个克分子环氧与一个克分子A-1100反应。
53 everlasting Insx7     
adj.永恒的,持久的,无止境的
参考例句:
  • These tyres are advertised as being everlasting.广告上说轮胎持久耐用。
  • He believes in everlasting life after death.他相信死后有不朽的生命。
54 infinity o7QxG     
n.无限,无穷,大量
参考例句:
  • It is impossible to count up to infinity.不可能数到无穷大。
  • Theoretically,a line can extend into infinity.从理论上来说直线可以无限地延伸。
55 celestial 4rUz8     
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。
56 simplicity Vryyv     
n.简单,简易;朴素;直率,单纯
参考例句:
  • She dressed with elegant simplicity.她穿着朴素高雅。
  • The beauty of this plan is its simplicity.简明扼要是这个计划的一大特点。
57 inflated Mqwz2K     
adj.(价格)飞涨的;(通货)膨胀的;言过其实的;充了气的v.使充气(于轮胎、气球等)( inflate的过去式和过去分词 );(使)膨胀;(使)通货膨胀;物价上涨
参考例句:
  • He has an inflated sense of his own importance. 他自视过高。
  • They all seem to take an inflated view of their collective identity. 他们对自己的集体身份似乎都持有一种夸大的看法。 来自《简明英汉词典》
58 entirely entirely     
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地
参考例句:
  • The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
  • His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。
59 racing 1ksz3w     
n.竞赛,赛马;adj.竞赛用的,赛马用的
参考例句:
  • I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
  • The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。
60 foul Sfnzy     
adj.污秽的;邪恶的;v.弄脏;妨害;犯规;n.犯规
参考例句:
  • Take off those foul clothes and let me wash them.脱下那些脏衣服让我洗一洗。
  • What a foul day it is!多么恶劣的天气!
61 imminent zc9z2     
adj.即将发生的,临近的,逼近的
参考例句:
  • The black clounds show that a storm is imminent.乌云预示暴风雨即将来临。
  • The country is in imminent danger.国难当头。
62 narrative CFmxS     
n.叙述,故事;adj.叙事的,故事体的
参考例句:
  • He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
  • Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。
63 heartily Ld3xp     
adv.衷心地,诚恳地,十分,很
参考例句:
  • He ate heartily and went out to look for his horse.他痛快地吃了一顿,就出去找他的马。
  • The host seized my hand and shook it heartily.主人抓住我的手,热情地和我握手。
64 promptly LRMxm     
adv.及时地,敏捷地
参考例句:
  • He paid the money back promptly.他立即还了钱。
  • She promptly seized the opportunity his absence gave her.她立即抓住了因他不在场给她创造的机会。
65 inevitably x7axc     
adv.不可避免地;必然发生地
参考例句:
  • In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去,毫无疑问是会散伙的。
  • Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。
66 contemplating bde65bd99b6b8a706c0f139c0720db21     
深思,细想,仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 ); 注视,凝视; 考虑接受(发生某事的可能性); 深思熟虑,沉思,苦思冥想
参考例句:
  • You're too young to be contemplating retirement. 你考虑退休还太年轻。
  • She stood contemplating the painting. 她站在那儿凝视那幅图画。
67 azure 6P3yh     
adj.天蓝色的,蔚蓝色的
参考例句:
  • His eyes are azure.他的眼睛是天蓝色的。
  • The sun shone out of a clear azure sky.清朗蔚蓝的天空中阳光明媚。
68 turquoise Uldwx     
n.绿宝石;adj.蓝绿色的
参考例句:
  • She wore a string of turquoise round her neck.她脖子上戴着一串绿宝石。
  • The women have elaborate necklaces of turquoise.那些女人戴着由绿松石制成的精美项链。
69 slaty 5574e0c50e1cc04b5aad13b0f989ebbd     
石板一样的,石板色的
参考例句:
  • A sudden gust of cool wind under the slaty sky, and rain drops will start patter-pattering. 在灰沉沉的天底下,忽而来一阵凉风,便息列索落地下起雨来了。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译
  • A metamorphic rock intermediate between shale and slate, that does not possess true slaty cleavage. 一种细颗粒的变质岩,由泥质岩受热形成。
70 crest raqyA     
n.顶点;饰章;羽冠;vt.达到顶点;vi.形成浪尖
参考例句:
  • The rooster bristled his crest.公鸡竖起了鸡冠。
  • He reached the crest of the hill before dawn.他于黎明前到达山顶。
71 erect 4iLzm     
n./v.树立,建立,使竖立;adj.直立的,垂直的
参考例句:
  • She held her head erect and her back straight.她昂着头,把背挺得笔直。
  • Soldiers are trained to stand erect.士兵们训练站得笔直。
72 rudiments GjBzbg     
n.基础知识,入门
参考例句:
  • He has just learned the rudiments of Chinese. 他学汉语刚刚入门。
  • You do not seem to know the first rudiments of agriculture. 你似乎连农业上的一点最起码的常识也没有。
73 conclusively NvVzwY     
adv.令人信服地,确凿地
参考例句:
  • All this proves conclusively that she couldn't have known the truth. 这一切无可置疑地证明她不可能知道真相。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • From the facts,he was able to determine conclusively that the death was not a suicide. 根据这些事实他断定这起死亡事件并非自杀。 来自《简明英汉词典》
74 apparently tMmyQ     
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎
参考例句:
  • An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽,豁然开朗。
  • He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。
75 perturbing 6a75faaac786ed3502e1977d64922ba6     
v.使(某人)烦恼,不安( perturb的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • There had been an incident which was perturbing. 曾经出了一点令人不安的事故。 来自辞典例句
76 perpendicular GApy0     
adj.垂直的,直立的;n.垂直线,垂直的位置
参考例句:
  • The two lines of bones are set perpendicular to one another.这两排骨头相互垂直。
  • The wall is out of the perpendicular.这墙有些倾斜。
77 grotesque O6ryZ     
adj.怪诞的,丑陋的;n.怪诞的图案,怪人(物)
参考例句:
  • His face has a grotesque appearance.他的面部表情十分怪。
  • Her account of the incident was a grotesque distortion of the truth.她对这件事的陈述是荒诞地歪曲了事实。
78 averred 4a3546c562d3f5b618f0024b711ffe27     
v.断言( aver的过去式和过去分词 );证实;证明…属实;作为事实提出
参考例句:
  • She averred that she had never seen the man before. 她斩钉截铁地说以前从未见过这个男人。
  • The prosecutor averred that the prisoner killed Lois. 检察官称被拘犯杀害洛伊丝属实。 来自互联网
79 abreast Zf3yi     
adv.并排地;跟上(时代)的步伐,与…并进地
参考例句:
  • She kept abreast with the flood of communications that had poured in.她及时回复如雪片般飞来的大批信件。
  • We can't keep abreast of the developing situation unless we study harder.我们如果不加强学习,就会跟不上形势。


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