3
Aunt Glosspan was nearly seventy when she became guardian¹ to Lexington, but to look at her you
would never have guessed it for one minute. She was as sprightly² as a woman half her age, with a
small, wrinkled, but still quite beautiful face and two lovely brown eyes that sparkled at you in the
nicest way. She was also a spinster, though you would never have guessed that either, for there
was nothing spinsterish about Aunt Glosspan. She was never bitter or gloomy or irritable³; she
didn’t have a moustache; and she wasn’t in the least bit jealous of other people, which in itself is
something you can seldom say about either a spinster or a virgin⁴ lady, although of course it is not
known for certain whether Aunt Glosspan qualified⁵ on both counts.
But she was an eccentric old woman, there was no doubt about that. For the past thirty years she
had lived a strange isolated⁶ life all by herself in a tiny cottage high up on the slopes of the Blue
Ridge⁷ Mountains, several miles from the nearest village. She had five acres of pasture, a plot for
growing vegetables, a flower garden, three cows, a dozen hens, and a fine cockerel.
And now she had little Lexington as well.
She was a strict vegetarian⁸ and regarded the consumption of animal flesh as not only unhealthy
and disgusting, but horribly cruel. She lived upon lovely clean foods like milk, butter, eggs,
cheese, vegetables, nuts, herbs, and fruit and she rejoiced in the conviction that no living creature
would be slaughtered⁹ on her account, not even a shrimp

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1 guardian
n.监护人；守卫者，保护者
参考例句：
The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 这张表格须由孩子的家长或监护人签字。 The press is a guardian of the public weal. 报刊是公共福利的卫护者。

2 sprightly
adj.愉快的，活泼的
参考例句：
She is as sprightly as a woman half her age.她跟比她年轻一半的妇女一样活泼。 He's surprisingly sprightly for an old man.他这把年纪了，还这么精神，真了不起。

3 irritable
adj.急躁的；过敏的；易怒的
参考例句：
He gets irritable when he's got toothache.他牙一疼就很容易发脾气。 Our teacher is an irritable old lady.She gets angry easily.我们的老师是位脾气急躁的老太太。她很容易生气。

4 virgin
n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的
参考例句：
Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？ There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

5 qualified
adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的
参考例句：
He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。 We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

6 isolated
adj.与世隔绝的
参考例句：
His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。 Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

7 ridge
n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭
参考例句：
We clambered up the hillside to the ridge above.我们沿着山坡费力地爬上了山脊。 The infantry were advancing to attack the ridge.步兵部队正在向前挺进攻打山脊。

8 vegetarian
n.素食者；adj.素食的
参考例句：
She got used gradually to the vegetarian diet.她逐渐习惯吃素食。 I didn't realize you were a vegetarian.我不知道你是个素食者。

9 slaughtered
v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
The invading army slaughtered a lot of people. 侵略军杀了许多人。 来自《简明英汉词典》 Hundreds of innocent civilians were cruelly slaughtered. 数百名无辜平民遭残杀。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 shrimp
n.虾，小虾；矮小的人
参考例句：
When the shrimp farm is built it will block the stream.一旦养虾场建起来，将会截断这条河流。 When it comes to seafood,I like shrimp the best.说到海鲜，我最喜欢虾。

11 distressed
痛苦的
参考例句：
He was too distressed and confused to answer their questions. 他非常苦恼而困惑，无法回答他们的问题。 The news of his death distressed us greatly. 他逝世的消息使我们极为悲痛。

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

13 smoothly
adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地
参考例句：
The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。 Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

14 belched
v.打嗝( belch的过去式和过去分词 )；喷出，吐出；打（嗝）；嗳（气）
参考例句：
He wiped his hand across his mouth, then belched loudly. 他用手抹了抹嘴，然后打了个响亮的饱嗝。 Artillery growled and belched on the horizon. 大炮轰鸣在地平面上猛烈地爆炸。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》