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欧·亨利:HOLDING UP A TRAIN
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  • HOLDING UP A TRAIN

    Note. The man who told me these things was for several years an outlaw1 in the Southwest and a follower2 of the pursuit he so frankly3 describes. His description of the modus operandi should prove interesting, his counsel of value to the potential passenger in some future “hold-up,” while his estimate of the pleasures of train robbing will hardly induce any one to adopt it as a profession. I give the story in almost exactly his own words.

    O. H.

    Most people would say, if their opinion was asked for, that holding up a train would be a hard job. Well, it isn’t; it’s easy. I have contributed some to the uneasiness of railroads and the insomnia4 of express companies, and the most trouble I ever had about a hold-up was in being swindled by unscrupulous people while spending the money I got. The danger wasn’t anything to speak of, and we didn’t mind the trouble.

    One man has come pretty near robbing a train by himself; two have succeeded a few times; three can do it if they are hustlers, but five is about the right number. The time to do it and the place depend upon several things.

    The first “stick-up” I was ever in happened in 1890. Maybe the way I got into it will explain how most train robbers start in the business. Five out of six Western outlaws5 are just cowboys out of a job and gone wrong. The sixth is a tough from the East who dresses up like a bad man and plays some low-down trick that gives the boys a bad name. Wire fences and “nesters” made five of them; a bad heart made the sixth.

    Jim S–––– and I were working on the 101 Ranch6 in Colorado. The nesters had the cowman on the go. They had taken up the land and elected officers who were hard to get along with. Jim and I rode into La Junta7 one day, going south from a round-up. We were having a little fun without malice8 toward anybody when a farmer administration cut in and tried to harvest us. Jim shot a deputy marshal, and I kind of corroborated9 his side of the argument. We skirmished up and down the main street, the boomers having bad luck all the time. After a while we leaned forward and shoved for the ranch down on the Ceriso. We were riding a couple of horses that couldn’t fly, but they could catch birds.

    A few days after that, a gang of the La Junta boomers came to the ranch and wanted us to go back with them. Naturally, we declined. We had the house on them, and before we were done refusing, that old ’dobe was plumb10 full of lead. When dark came we fagged ’em a batch11 of bullets and shoved out the back door for the rocks. They sure smoked us as we went. We had to drift, which we did, and rounded up down in Oklahoma.

    Well, there wasn’t anything we could get there, and, being mighty12 hard up, we decided13 to transact14 a little business with the railroads. Jim and I joined forces with Tom and Ike Moore—two brothers who had plenty of sand they were willing to convert into dust. I can call their names, for both of them are dead. Tom was shot while robbing a bank in Arkansas; Ike was killed during the more dangerous pastime of attending a dance in the Creek15 Nation.

    We selected a place on the Santa Fé where there was a bridge across a deep creek surrounded by heavy timber. All passenger trains took water at the tank close to one end of the bridge. It was a quiet place, the nearest house being five miles away. The day before it happened, we rested our horses and “made medicine” as to how we should get about it. Our plans were not at all elaborate, as none of us had ever engaged in a hold-up before.

    The Santa Fé flyer was due at the tank at 11.15 p. m. At eleven, Tom and I lay down on one side of the track, and Jim and Ike took the other. As the train rolled up, the headlight flashing far down the track and the steam hissing16 from the engine, I turned weak all over. I would have worked a whole year on the ranch for nothing to have been out of that affair right then. Some of the nerviest men in the business have told me that they felt the same way the first time.

    The engine had hardly stopped when I jumped on the running-board on one side, while Jim mounted the other. As soon as the engineer and fireman saw our guns they threw up their hands without being told, and begged us not to shoot, saying they would do anything we wanted them to.

    “Hit the ground,” I ordered, and they both jumped off. We drove them before us down the side of the train. While this was happening, Tom and Ike had been blazing away, one on each side of the train, yelling like Apaches, so as to keep the passengers herded17 in the cars. Some fellow stuck a little twenty-two calibre out one of the coach windows and fired it straight up in the air. I let drive and smashed the glass just over his head. That settled everything like resistance from that direction.

    By this time all my nervousness was gone. I felt a kind of pleasant excitement as if I were at a dance or a frolic of some sort. The lights were all out in the coaches, and, as Tom and Ike gradually quit firing and yelling, it got to be almost as still as a graveyard18. I remember hearing a little bird chirping19 in a bush at the side of the track, as if it were complaining at being waked up.

    I made the fireman get a lantern, and then I went to the express car and yelled to the messenger to open up or get perforated. He slid the door back and stood in it with his hands up. “Jump overboard, son,” I said, and he hit the dirt like a lump of lead. There were two safes in the car—a big one and a little one. By the way, I first located the messenger’s arsenal—a double-barrelled shot-gun with buckshot cartridges20 and a thirty-eight in a drawer. I drew the cartridges from the shot-gun, pocketed the pistol, and called the messenger inside. I shoved my gun against his nose and put him to work. He couldn’t open the big safe, but he did the little one. There was only nine hundred dollars in it. That was mighty small winnings for our trouble, so we decided to go through the passengers. We took our prisoners to the smoking-car, and from there sent the engineer through the train to light up the coaches. Beginning with the first one, we placed a man at each door and ordered the passengers to stand between the seats with their hands up.

    If you want to find out what cowards the majority of men are, all you have to do is rob a passenger train. I don’t mean because they don’t resist—I’ll tell you later on why they can’t do that—but it makes a man feel sorry for them the way they lose their heads. Big, burly drummers and farmers and ex-soldiers and high-collared dudes and sports that, a few moments before, were filling the car with noise and bragging21, get so scared that their ears flop22.

    There were very few people in the day coaches at that time of night, so we made a slim haul until we got to the sleeper23. The Pullman conductor met me at one door while Jim was going round to the other one. He very politely informed me that I could not go into that car, as it did not belong to the railroad company, and, besides, the passengers had already been greatly disturbed by the shouting and firing. Never in all my life have I met with a finer instance of official dignity and reliance upon the power of Mr. Pullman’s great name. I jabbed my six-shooter so hard against Mr. Conductor’s front that I afterward24 found one of his vest buttons so firmly wedged in the end of the barrel that I had to shoot it out. He just shut up like a weak-springed knife and rolled down the car steps.

    I opened the door of the sleeper and stepped inside. A big, fat old man came wabbling up to me, puffing25 and blowing. He had one coat-sleeve on and was trying to put his vest on over that. I don’t know who he thought I was.

    “Young man, young man,” says he, “you must keep cool and not get excited. Above everything, keep cool.”

    “I can’t,” says I. “Excitement’s just eating me up.” And then I let out a yell and turned loose my forty-five through the skylight.

    That old man tried to dive into one of the lower berths26, but a screech27 came out of it and a bare foot that took him in the bread-basket and landed him on the floor. I saw Jim coming in the other door, and I hollered for everybody to climb out and line up.

    They commenced to scramble28 down, and for a while we had a three-ringed circus. The men looked as frightened and tame as a lot of rabbits in a deep snow. They had on, on an average, about a quarter of a suit of clothes and one shoe apiece. One chap was sitting on the floor of the aisle29, looking as if he were working a hard sum in arithmetic. He was trying, very solemn, to pull a lady’s number two shoe on his number nine foot.

    The ladies didn’t stop to dress. They were so curious to see a real, live train robber, bless ’em, that they just wrapped blankets and sheets around themselves and came out, squeaky and fidgety looking. They always show more curiosity and sand than the men do.

    We got them all lined up and pretty quiet, and I went through the bunch. I found very little on them—I mean in the way of valuables. One man in the line was a sight. He was one of those big, overgrown, solemn snoozers that sit on the platform at lectures and look wise. Before crawling out he had managed to put on his long, frock-tailed coat and his high silk hat. The rest of him was nothing but pajamas30 and bunions. When I dug into that Prince Albert, I expected to drag out at least a block of gold mine stock or an armful of Government bonds, but all I found was a little boy’s French harp31 about four inches long. What it was there for, I don’t know. I felt a little mad because he had fooled me so. I stuck the harp up against his mouth.

    “If you can’t pay—play,” I says.

    “I can’t play,” says he.

    “Then learn right off quick,” says I, letting him smell the end of my gun-barrel.

    He caught hold of the harp, turned red as a beet32, and commenced to blow. He blew a dinky little tune I remembered hearing when I was a kid:

    Prettiest little gal33 in the country—oh!

    Mammy and Daddy told me so.

    I made him keep on playing it all the time we were in the car. Now and then he’d get weak and off the key, and I’d turn my gun on him and ask what was the matter with that little gal, and whether he had any intention of going back on her, which would make him start up again like sixty. I think that old boy standing34 there in his silk hat and bare feet, playing his little French harp, was the funniest sight I ever saw. One little red-headed woman in the line broke out laughing at him. You could have heard her in the next car.

    Then Jim held them steady while I searched the berths. I grappled around in those beds and filled a pillow-case with the strangest assortment35 of stuff you ever saw. Now and then I’d come across a little pop-gun pistol, just about right for plugging teeth with, which I’d throw out the window. When I finished with the collection, I dumped the pillow-case load in the middle of the aisle. There were a good many watches, bracelets37, rings, and pocket-books, with a sprinkling of false teeth, whiskey flasks38, face-powder boxes, chocolate caramels, and heads of hair of various colours and lengths. There were also about a dozen ladies’ stockings into which jewellery, watches, and rolls of bills had been stuffed and then wadded up tight and stuck under the mattresses39. I offered to return what I called the “scalps,” saying that we were not Indians on the war-path, but none of the ladies seemed to know to whom the hair belonged.

    One of the women—and a good-looker she was—wrapped in a striped blanket, saw me pick up one of the stockings that was pretty chunky and heavy about the toe, and she snapped out:

    “That’s mine, sir. You’re not in the business of robbing women, are you?”

    Now, as this was our first hold-up, we hadn’t agreed upon any code of ethics40, so I hardly knew what to answer. But, anyway, I replied: “Well, not as a specialty41. If this contains your personal property you can have it back.”

    “It just does,” she declared eagerly, and reached out her hand for it.

    “You’ll excuse my taking a look at the contents,” I said, holding the stocking up by the toe. Out dumped a big gent’s gold watch, worth two hundred, a gent’s leather pocket-book that we afterward found to contain six hundred dollars, a 32-calibre revolver; and the only thing of the lot that could have been a lady’s personal property was a silver bracelet36 worth about fifty cents.

    I said: “Madame, here’s your property,” and handed her the bracelet. “Now,” I went on, “how can you expect us to act square with you when you try to deceive us in this manner? I’m surprised at such conduct.”

    The young woman flushed up as if she had been caught doing something dishonest. Some other woman down the line called out: “The mean thing!” I never knew whether she meant the other lady or me.

    When we finished our job we ordered everybody back to bed, told ’em good night very politely at the door, and left. We rode forty miles before daylight and then divided the stuff. Each one of us got $1,752.85 in money. We lumped the jewellery around. Then we scattered42, each man for himself.

    That was my first train robbery, and it was about as easily done as any of the ones that followed. But that was the last and only time I ever went through the passengers. I don’t like that part of the business. Afterward I stuck strictly43 to the express car. During the next eight years I handled a good deal of money.

    The best haul I made was just seven years after the first one. We found out about a train that was going to bring out a lot of money to pay off the soldiers at a Government post. We stuck that train up in broad daylight. Five of us lay in the sand hills near a little station. Ten soldiers were guarding the money on the train, but they might just as well have been at home on a furlough. We didn’t even allow them to stick their heads out the windows to see the fun. We had no trouble at all in getting the money, which was all in gold. Of course, a big howl was raised at the time about the robbery. It was Government stuff, and the Government got sarcastic44 and wanted to know what the convoy45 of soldiers went along for. The only excuse given was that nobody was expecting an attack among those bare sand hills in daytime. I don’t know what the Government thought about the excuse, but I know that it was a good one. The surprise—that is the keynote of the train-robbing business. The papers published all kinds of stories about the loss, finally agreeing that it was between nine thousand and ten thousand dollars. The Government sawed wood. Here are the correct figures, printed for the first time—forty-eight thousand dollars. If anybody will take the trouble to look over Uncle Sam’s private accounts for that little debit46 to profit and loss, he will find that I am right to a cent.

    By that time we were expert enough to know what to do. We rode due west twenty miles, making a trail that a Broadway policeman could have followed, and then we doubled back, hiding our tracks. On the second night after the hold-up, while posses were scouring47 the country in every direction, Jim and I were eating supper in the second story of a friend’s house in the town where the alarm started from. Our friend pointed48 out to us, in an office across the street, a printing press at work striking off handbills offering a reward for our capture.

    I have been asked what we do with the money we get. Well, I never could account for a tenth part of it after it was spent. It goes fast and freely. An outlaw has to have a good many friends. A highly respected citizen may, and often does, get along with very few, but a man on the dodge49 has got to have “sidekickers.” With angry posses and reward-hungry officers cutting out a hot trail for him, he must have a few places scattered about the country where he can stop and feed himself and his horse and get a few hours’ sleep without having to keep both eyes open. When he makes a haul he feels like dropping some of the coin with these friends, and he does it liberally. Sometimes I have, at the end of a hasty visit at one of these havens50 of refuge, flung a handful of gold and bills into the laps of the kids playing on the floor, without knowing whether my contribution was a hundred dollars or a thousand.

    When old-timers make a big haul they generally go far away to one of the big cities to spend their money. Green hands, however successful a hold-up they make, nearly always give themselves away by showing too much money near the place where they got it.

    I was in a job in ’94 where we got twenty thousand dollars. We followed our favourite plan for a get-away—that is, doubled on our trail—and laid low for a time near the scene of the train’s bad luck. One morning I picked up a newspaper and read an article with big headlines stating that the marshal, with eight deputies and a posse of thirty armed citizens, had the train robbers surrounded in a mesquite thicket51 on the Cimarron, and that it was a question of only a few hours when they would be dead men or prisoners. While I was reading that article I was sitting at breakfast in one of the most elegant private residences in Washington City, with a flunky in knee pants standing behind my chair. Jim was sitting across the table talking to his half-uncle, a retired52 naval53 officer, whose name you have often seen in the accounts of doings in the capital. We had gone there and bought rattling54 outfits56 of good clothes, and were resting from our labours among the nabobs. We must have been killed in that mesquite thicket, for I can make an affidavit57 that we didn’t surrender.

    Now I propose to tell why it is easy to hold up a train, and, then, why no one should ever do it.

    In the first place, the attacking party has all the advantage. That is, of course, supposing that they are old-timers with the necessary experience and courage. They have the outside and are protected by the darkness, while the others are in the light, hemmed58 into a small space, and exposed, the moment they show a head at a window or door, to the aim of a man who is a dead shot and who won’t hesitate to shoot.

    But, in my opinion, the main condition that makes train robbing easy is the element of surprise in connection with the imagination of the passengers. If you have ever seen a horse that has eaten loco weed you will understand what I mean when I say that the passengers get locoed. That horse gets the awfullest imagination on him in the world. You can’t coax59 him to cross a little branch stream two feet wide. It looks as big to him as the Mississippi River. That’s just the way with the passenger. He thinks there are a hundred men yelling and shooting outside, when maybe there are only two or three. And the muzzle60 of a forty-five looks like the entrance to a tunnel. The passenger is all right, although he may do mean little tricks, like hiding a wad of money in his shoe and forgetting to dig-up until you jostle his ribs61 some with the end of your six-shooter; but there’s no harm in him.

    As to the train crew, we never had any more trouble with them than if they had been so many sheep. I don’t mean that they are cowards; I mean that they have got sense. They know they’re not up against a bluff62. It’s the same way with the officers. I’ve seen secret service men, marshals, and railroad detectives fork over their change as meek63 as Moses. I saw one of the bravest marshals I ever knew hide his gun under his seat and dig up along with the rest while I was taking toll64. He wasn’t afraid; he simply knew that we had the drop on the whole outfit55. Besides, many of those officers have families and they feel that they oughtn’t to take chances; whereas death has no terrors for the man who holds up a train. He expects to get killed some day, and he generally does. My advice to you, if you should ever be in a hold-up, is to line up with the cowards and save your bravery for an occasion when it may be of some benefit to you. Another reason why officers are backward about mixing things with a train robber is a financial one. Every time there is a scrimmage and somebody gets killed, the officers lose money. If the train robber gets away they swear out a warrant against John Doe et al. and travel hundreds of miles and sign vouchers65 for thousands on the trail of the fugitives66, and the Government foots the bills. So, with them, it is a question of mileage67 rather than courage.

    I will give one instance to support my statement that the surprise is the best card in playing for a hold-up.

    Along in ’92 the Daltons were cutting out a hot trail for the officers down in the Cherokee Nation, Those were their lucky days, and they got so reckless and sandy, that they used to announce before hand what job they were going to undertake. Once they gave it out that they were going to hold up the M. K. & T. flyer on a certain night at the station of Pryor Creek, in Indian Territory.

    That night the railroad company got fifteen deputy marshals in Muscogee and put them on the train. Beside them they had fifty armed men hid in the depot68 at Pryor Creek.

    When the Katy Flyer pulled in not a Dalton showed up. The next station was Adair, six miles away. When the train reached there, and the deputies were having a good time explaining what they would have done to the Dalton gang if they had turned up, all at once it sounded like an army firing outside. The conductor and brakeman came running into the car yelling, “Train robbers!”

    Some of those deputies lit out of the door, hit the ground, and kept on running. Some of them hid their Winchesters under the seats. Two of them made a fight and were both killed.

    It took the Daltons just ten minutes to capture the train and whip the escort. In twenty minutes more they robbed the express car of twenty-seven thousand dollars and made a clean get-away.

    My opinion is that those deputies would have put up a stiff fight at Pryor Creek, where they were expecting trouble, but they were taken by surprise and “locoed” at Adair, just as the Daltons, who knew their business, expected they would.

    I don’t think I ought to close without giving some deductions69 from my experience of eight years “on the dodge.” It doesn’t pay to rob trains. Leaving out the question of right and morals, which I don’t think I ought to tackle, there is very little to envy in the life of an outlaw. After a while money ceases to have any value in his eyes. He gets to looking upon the railroads and express companies as his bankers, and his six-shooter as a cheque book good for any amount. He throws away money right and left. Most of the time he is on the jump, riding day and night, and he lives so hard between times that he doesn’t enjoy the taste of high life when he gets it. He knows that his time is bound to come to lose his life or liberty, and that the accuracy of his aim, the speed of his horse, and the fidelity70 of his “sider,” are all that postpone71 the inevitable72.

    It isn’t that he loses any sleep over danger from the officers of the law. In all my experience I never knew officers to attack a band of outlaws unless they outnumbered them at least three to one.

    But the outlaw carries one thought constantly in his mind—and that is what makes him so sore against life, more than anything else—he knows where the marshals get their recruits of deputies. He knows that the majority of these upholders of the law were once lawbreakers, horse thieves, rustlers, highwaymen, and outlaws like himself, and that they gained their positions and immunity73 by turning state’s evidence, by turning traitor74 and delivering up their comrades to imprisonment75 and death. He knows that some day—unless he is shot first—his Judas will set to work, the trap will be laid, and he will be the surprised instead of a surpriser at a stick-up.

    That is why the man who holds up trains picks his company with a thousand times the care with which a careful girl chooses a sweetheart. That is why he raises himself from his blanket of nights and listens to the tread of every horse’s hoofs76 on the distant road. That is why he broods suspiciously for days upon a jesting remark or an unusual movement of a tried comrade, or the broken mutterings of his closest friend, sleeping by his side.

    And it is one of the reasons why the train-robbing profession is not so pleasant a one as either of its collateral77 branches—politics or cornering the market.

     10级    欧·亨利 


    点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

    1 outlaw [ˈaʊtlɔ:] 1J0xG   第7级
    n.歹徒,亡命之徒;vt.宣布…为不合法
    参考例句:
    • The outlaw hid out in the hills for several months. 逃犯在山里隐藏了几个月。
    • The outlaw has been caught. 歹徒已被抓住了。
    2 follower [ˈfɒləʊə(r)] gjXxP   第7级
    n.跟随者;随员;门徒;信徒
    参考例句:
    • He is a faithful follower of his home football team. 他是他家乡足球队的忠实拥护者。
    • Alexander is a pious follower of the faith. 亚历山大是个虔诚的信徒。
    3 frankly [ˈfræŋkli] fsXzcf   第7级
    adv.坦白地,直率地;坦率地说
    参考例句:
    • To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all. 老实说,我一点也不赞成这个主意。
    • Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform. 坦率地说,我不反对改革。
    4 insomnia [ɪnˈsɒmniə] EbFzK   第7级
    n.失眠,失眠症
    参考例句:
    • Worries and tenseness can lead to insomnia. 忧虑和紧张会导致失眠。
    • He is suffering from insomnia. 他患失眠症。
    5 outlaws ['aʊtlɔ:z] 7eb8a8faa85063e1e8425968c2a222fe   第7级
    歹徒,亡命之徒( outlaw的名词复数 ); 逃犯
    参考例句:
    • During his year in the forest, Robin met many other outlaws. 在森林里的一年,罗宾遇见其他许多绿林大盗。
    • I didn't have to leave the country or fight outlaws. 我不必离开自己的国家,也不必与不法分子斗争。
    6 ranch [rɑ:ntʃ] dAUzk   第8级
    n.大牧场,大农场
    参考例句:
    • He went to work on a ranch. 他去一个大农场干活。
    • The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau. 该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。
    7 junta [ˈdʒʌntə] FaLzO   第12级
    n.团体;政务审议会
    参考例句:
    • The junta reacted violently to the perceived threat to its authority. 军政府感到自身权力受威胁而进行了激烈反击。
    • A military junta took control of the country. 一个军政权控制了国家。
    8 malice [ˈmælɪs] P8LzW   第9级
    n.恶意,怨恨,蓄意;[律]预谋
    参考例句:
    • I detected a suggestion of malice in his remarks. 我觉察出他说的话略带恶意。
    • There was a strong current of malice in many of his portraits. 他的许多肖像画中都透着一股强烈的怨恨。
    9 corroborated [kəˈrɔbəˌreɪtid] ab27fc1c50e7a59aad0d93cd9f135917   第9级
    v.证实,支持(某种说法、信仰、理论等)( corroborate的过去式 )
    参考例句:
    • The evidence was corroborated by two independent witnesses. 此证据由两名独立证人提供。
    • Experiments have corroborated her predictions. 实验证实了她的预言。 来自《简明英汉词典》
    10 plumb [plʌm] Y2szL   第9级
    adv.精确地,完全地;vt.了解意义,测水深
    参考例句:
    • No one could plumb the mystery. 没人能看破这秘密。
    • It was unprofitable to plumb that sort of thing. 这种事弄个水落石出没有什么好处。
    11 batch [bætʃ] HQgyz   第7级
    n.一批(组,群);一批生产量
    参考例句:
    • The first batch of cakes was burnt. 第一炉蛋糕烤焦了。
    • I have a batch of letters to answer. 我有一批信要回复。
    12 mighty [ˈmaɪti] YDWxl   第7级
    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。
    13 decided [dɪˈsaɪdɪd] lvqzZd   第7级
    adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
    参考例句:
    • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents. 这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
    • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting. 英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
    14 transact [trænˈzækt] hn8wE   第10级
    vi. 交易;谈判 vt. 办理;处理
    参考例句:
    • I will transact my business by letter. 我会写信去洽谈业务。
    • I have been obliged to see him. There was business to transact. 我不得不见他,有些事物要处理。
    15 creek [kri:k] 3orzL   第8级
    n.小溪,小河,小湾
    参考例句:
    • He sprang through the creek. 他跳过小河。
    • People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek. 人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。
    16 hissing [hɪsɪŋ] hissing   第10级
    n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式
    参考例句:
    • The steam escaped with a loud hissing noise. 蒸汽大声地嘶嘶冒了出来。
    • His ears were still hissing with the rustle of the leaves. 他耳朵里还听得萨萨萨的声音和屑索屑索的怪声。 来自汉英文学 - 春蚕
    17 herded [hə:did] a8990e20e0204b4b90e89c841c5d57bf   第7级
    群集,纠结( herd的过去式和过去分词 ); 放牧; (使)向…移动
    参考例句:
    • He herded up his goats. 他把山羊赶拢在一起。
    • They herded into the corner. 他们往角落里聚集。
    18 graveyard [ˈgreɪvjɑ:d] 9rFztV   第10级
    n.坟场
    参考例句:
    • All the town was drifting toward the graveyard. 全镇的人都象流水似地向那坟场涌过去。
    • Living next to a graveyard would give me the creeps. 居住在墓地旁边会使我毛骨悚然。
    19 chirping [t'ʃɜ:pɪŋ] 9ea89833a9fe2c98371e55f169aa3044   第10级
    鸟叫,虫鸣( chirp的现在分词 )
    参考例句:
    • The birds,chirping relentlessly,woke us up at daybreak. 破晓时鸟儿不断吱吱地叫,把我们吵醒了。
    • The birds are chirping merrily. 鸟儿在欢快地鸣叫着。
    20 cartridges ['kɑ:trɪdʒɪz] 17207f2193d1e05c4c15f2938c82898d   第9级
    子弹( cartridge的名词复数 ); (打印机的)墨盒; 录音带盒; (唱机的)唱头
    参考例句:
    • computer consumables such as disks and printer cartridges 如磁盘、打印机墨盒之类的电脑耗材
    • My new video game player came with three game cartridges included. 我的新电子游戏机附有三盘游戏带。
    21 bragging [b'ræɡɪŋ] 4a422247fd139463c12f66057bbcffdf   第8级
    v.自夸,吹嘘( brag的现在分词 );大话
    参考例句:
    • He's always bragging about his prowess as a cricketer. 他总是吹嘘自己板球水平高超。 来自辞典例句
    • Now you're bragging, darling. You know you don't need to brag. 这就是夸口,亲爱的。你明知道你不必吹。 来自辞典例句
    22 flop [flɒp] sjsx2   第11级
    n.失败(者),扑通一声;vi.笨重地行动,沉重地落下
    参考例句:
    • The fish gave a flop and landed back in the water. 鱼扑通一声又跳回水里。
    • The marketing campaign was a flop. The product didn't sell. 市场宣传彻底失败,产品卖不出去。
    23 sleeper [ˈsli:pə(r)] gETyT   第7级
    n.睡眠者,卧车,卧铺
    参考例句:
    • I usually go up to London on the sleeper. 我一般都乘卧车去伦敦。
    • But first he explained that he was a very heavy sleeper. 但首先他解释说自己睡觉很沉。
    24 afterward ['ɑ:ftəwəd] fK6y3   第7级
    adv.后来;以后
    参考例句:
    • Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏,然后吃饭。
    • Afterward, the boy became a very famous artist. 后来,这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。
    25 puffing [pʊfɪŋ] b3a737211571a681caa80669a39d25d3   第7级
    v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 );喷着汽(或烟)移动;吹嘘;吹捧
    参考例句:
    • He was puffing hard when he jumped on to the bus. 他跳上公共汽车时喘息不已。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
    • My father sat puffing contentedly on his pipe. 父亲坐着心满意足地抽着烟斗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
    26 berths [bɜ:θs] c48f4275c061791e8345f3bbf7b5e773   第9级
    n.(船、列车等的)卧铺( berth的名词复数 );(船舶的)停泊位或锚位;差事;船台vt.v.停泊( berth的第三人称单数 );占铺位
    参考例句:
    • Berths on steamships can be booked a long while in advance. 轮船上的床位可以提前多日预订。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
    • Have you got your berths on the ship yet? 你们在船上有舱位了吗? 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
    27 screech [skri:tʃ] uDkzc   第10级
    n./v.尖叫;(发出)刺耳的声音
    参考例句:
    • He heard a screech of brakes and then fell down. 他听到汽车刹车发出的尖锐的声音,然后就摔倒了。
    • The screech of jet planes violated the peace of the afternoon. 喷射机的尖啸声侵犯了下午的平静。
    28 scramble [ˈskræmbl] JDwzg   第8级
    vt. 攀登;使混杂,仓促凑成;扰乱 n. 抢夺,争夺;混乱,混乱的一团;爬行,攀登 vi. 爬行,攀登;不规则地生长;仓促行动
    参考例句:
    • He broke his leg in his scramble down the wall. 他爬墙摔断了腿。
    • It was a long scramble to the top of the hill. 到山顶须要爬登一段长路。
    29 aisle [aɪl] qxPz3   第8级
    n.(教堂、教室、戏院等里的)过道,通道
    参考例句:
    • The aisle was crammed with people. 过道上挤满了人。
    • The girl ushered me along the aisle to my seat. 引座小姐带领我沿着通道到我的座位上去。
    30 pajamas [pə'dʒɑ:məz] XmvzDN   第9级
    n.睡衣裤
    参考例句:
    • At bedtime, I take off my clothes and put on my pajamas. 睡觉时,我脱去衣服,换上睡衣。
    • He was wearing striped pajamas. 他穿着带条纹的睡衣裤。
    31 harp [hɑ:p] UlEyQ   第9级
    n.竖琴;天琴座
    参考例句:
    • She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp. 她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。
    • He played an Irish melody on the harp. 他用竖琴演奏了一首爱尔兰曲调。
    32 beet [bi:t] 9uXzV   第10级
    n.甜菜;甜菜根
    参考例句:
    • He farmed his pickers to work in the beet fields. 他出租他的摘棉工去甜菜地里干活。
    • The sugar beet is an entirely different kind of plant. 糖用甜菜是一种完全不同的作物。
    33 gal [gæl] 56Zy9   第12级
    n.姑娘,少女
    参考例句:
    • We decided to go with the gal from Merrill. 我们决定和那个从梅里尔来的女孩合作。
    • What's the name of the gal? 这个妞叫什么?
    34 standing [ˈstændɪŋ] 2hCzgo   第8级
    n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的
    参考例句:
    • After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing. 地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
    • They're standing out against any change in the law. 他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。
    35 assortment [əˈsɔ:tmənt] FVDzT   第8级
    n.分类,各色俱备之物,聚集
    参考例句:
    • This shop has a good assortment of goods to choose from. 该店各色货物俱全,任君选择。
    • She was wearing an odd assortment of clothes. 她穿着奇装异服。
    36 bracelet [ˈbreɪslət] nWdzD   第8级
    n.手镯,臂镯
    参考例句:
    • The jeweler charges lots of money to set diamonds in a bracelet. 珠宝匠要很多钱才肯把钻石镶在手镯上。
    • She left her gold bracelet as a pledge. 她留下她的金手镯作抵押品。
    37 bracelets [b'reɪslɪts] 58df124ddcdc646ef29c1c5054d8043d   第8级
    n.手镯,臂镯( bracelet的名词复数 )
    参考例句:
    • The lamplight struck a gleam from her bracelets. 她的手镯在灯光的照射下闪闪发亮。 来自《简明英汉词典》
    • On display are earrings, necklaces and bracelets made from jade, amber and amethyst. 展出的有用玉石、琥珀和紫水晶做的耳环、项链和手镯。 来自《简明英汉词典》
    38 flasks [flɑ:sks] 34ad8a54a8490ad2e98fb04e57c2fc0d   第8级
    n.瓶,长颈瓶, 烧瓶( flask的名词复数 )
    参考例句:
    • The juggler juggled three flasks. 这个玩杂耍的人可同时抛接三个瓶子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
    • The meat in all of the open flasks putrefied. 所有开口瓶中的肉都腐烂了。 来自辞典例句
    39 mattresses ['mætrɪsɪz] 985a5c9b3722b68c7f8529dc80173637   第8级
    褥垫,床垫( mattress的名词复数 )
    参考例句:
    • The straw mattresses are airing there. 草垫子正在那里晾着。
    • The researchers tested more than 20 mattresses of various materials. 研究人员试验了二十多个不同材料的床垫。
    40 ethics ['eθɪks] Dt3zbI   第7级
    n.伦理学;伦理观,道德标准
    参考例句:
    • The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that. 他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
    • Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict. 个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。
    41 specialty [ˈspeʃəlti] SrGy7   第7级
    n.(speciality)特性,特质;专业,专长
    参考例句:
    • Shell carvings are a specialty of the town. 贝雕是该城的特产。
    • His specialty is English literature. 他的专业是英国文学。
    42 scattered ['skætəd] 7jgzKF   第7级
    adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的
    参考例句:
    • Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来,塞进文件夹里。
    43 strictly [ˈstrɪktli] GtNwe   第7级
    adv.严厉地,严格地;严密地
    参考例句:
    • His doctor is dieting him strictly. 他的医生严格规定他的饮食。
    • The guests were seated strictly in order of precedence. 客人严格按照地位高低就座。
    44 sarcastic [sɑ:ˈkæstɪk] jCIzJ   第9级
    adj.讥讽的,讽刺的,嘲弄的
    参考例句:
    • I squashed him with a sarcastic remark. 我说了一句讽刺的话把他给镇住了。
    • She poked fun at people's shortcomings with sarcastic remarks. 她冷嘲热讽地拿别人的缺点开玩笑。
    45 convoy [ˈkɒnvɔɪ] do6zu   第10级
    vt.护送,护卫,护航;n.护送;护送队
    参考例句:
    • The convoy was snowed up on the main road. 护送队被大雪困在干路上了。
    • Warships will accompany the convoy across the Atlantic. 战舰将护送该船队过大西洋。
    46 debit [ˈdebɪt] AOdzV   第8级
    n.借方,借项,记人借方的款项
    参考例句:
    • To whom shall I debit this sum? 此款应记入谁的账户的借方?
    • We undercharge Mr. Smith and have to send him a debit note for the extra amount. 我们少收了史密斯先生的钱,只得给他寄去一张借条所要欠款。
    47 scouring ['skaʊərɪŋ] 02d824effe8b78d21ec133da3651c677   第8级
    擦[洗]净,冲刷,洗涤
    参考例句:
    • The police are scouring the countryside for the escaped prisoners. 警察正在搜索整个乡村以捉拿逃犯。
    • This is called the scouring train in wool processing. 这被称为羊毛加工中的洗涤系列。
    48 pointed [ˈpɔɪntɪd] Il8zB4   第7级
    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。
    • A safety pin has a metal covering over the pointed end. 安全别针在尖端有一个金属套。
    49 dodge [dɒdʒ] q83yo   第8级
    n. 躲闪;托词 vt. 躲避,避开 vi. 躲避,避开
    参考例句:
    • A dodge behind a tree kept her from being run over. 她向树后一闪,才没被车从身上辗过。
    • The dodge was coopered by the police. 诡计被警察粉碎了。
    50 havens [ˈheivnz] 4e10631e2b71bdedbb49b75173e0f818   第8级
    n.港口,安全地方( haven的名词复数 )v.港口,安全地方( haven的第三人称单数 )
    参考例句:
    • Your twenty havens would back out at the last minute anyhow. 你那二十个避难所到了最后一分钟也要不认帐。 来自辞典例句
    • Using offshore havens to avoid taxes and investor protections. 使用海面的港口避免税和投资者保护。 来自互联网
    51 thicket [ˈθɪkɪt] So0wm   第10级
    n.灌木丛,树林
    参考例句:
    • A thicket makes good cover for animals to hide in. 丛林是动物的良好隐蔽处。
    • We were now at the margin of the thicket. 我们现在已经来到了丛林的边缘。
    52 retired [rɪˈtaɪəd] Njhzyv   第8级
    adj.隐退的,退休的,退役的
    参考例句:
    • The old man retired to the country for rest. 这位老人下乡休息去了。
    • Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby. 许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。
    53 naval [ˈneɪvl] h1lyU   第7级
    adj.海军的,军舰的,船的
    参考例句:
    • He took part in a great naval battle. 他参加了一次大海战。
    • The harbour is an important naval base. 该港是一个重要的海军基地。
    54 rattling [ˈrætlɪŋ] 7b0e25ab43c3cc912945aafbb80e7dfd   第7级
    adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词
    参考例句:
    • This book is a rattling good read. 这是一本非常好的读物。
    • At that same instant,a deafening explosion set the windows rattling. 正在这时,一声震耳欲聋的爆炸突然袭来,把窗玻璃震得当当地响。
    55 outfit [ˈaʊtfɪt] YJTxC   第8级
    n.(为特殊用途的)全套装备,全套服装
    参考例句:
    • Jenney bought a new outfit for her daughter's wedding. 珍妮为参加女儿的婚礼买了一套新装。
    • His father bought a ski outfit for him on his birthday. 他父亲在他生日那天给他买了一套滑雪用具。
    56 outfits [ˈautfits] ed01b85fb10ede2eb7d337e0ea2d0bb3   第8级
    n.全套装备( outfit的名词复数 );一套服装;集体;组织v.装备,配置设备,供给服装( outfit的第三人称单数 )
    参考例句:
    • He jobbed out the contract to a number of small outfits. 他把承包工程分包给许多小单位。 来自辞典例句
    • Some cyclists carry repair outfits because they may have a puncture. 有些骑自行车的人带修理工具,因为他们车胎可能小孔。 来自辞典例句
    57 affidavit [ˌæfəˈdeɪvɪt] 4xWzh   第10级
    n.宣誓书
    参考例句:
    • I gave an affidavit to the judge about the accident I witnessed. 我向法官提交了一份关于我目击的事故的证词。
    • The affidavit was formally read to the court. 书面证词正式向出席法庭的人宣读了。
    58 hemmed [hemd] 16d335eff409da16d63987f05fc78f5a   第10级
    缝…的褶边( hem的过去式和过去分词 ); 包围
    参考例句:
    • He hemmed and hawed but wouldn't say anything definite. 他总是哼儿哈儿的,就是不说句痛快话。
    • The soldiers were hemmed in on all sides. 士兵们被四面包围了。
    59 coax [kəʊks] Fqmz5   第8级
    vt. 哄;哄诱;慢慢将…弄好 vi. 哄骗;劝诱
    参考例句:
    • I had to coax the information out of him. 我得用好话套出他掌握的情况。
    • He tried to coax the secret from me. 他试图哄骗我说出秘方。
    60 muzzle [ˈmʌzl] i11yN   第10级
    n.鼻口部;口套;枪(炮)口;vt.使缄默
    参考例句:
    • He placed the muzzle of the pistol between his teeth. 他把手枪的枪口放在牙齿中间。
    • The President wanted to muzzle the press. 总统企图遏制新闻自由。
    61 ribs ['rɪbz] 24fc137444401001077773555802b280   第7级
    n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 );(船或屋顶等的)肋拱;肋骨状的东西;(织物的)凸条花纹
    参考例句:
    • He suffered cracked ribs and bruising. 他断了肋骨还有挫伤。
    • Make a small incision below the ribs. 在肋骨下方切开一个小口。
    62 bluff [blʌf] ftZzB   第9级
    vt.&vi.虚张声势,用假象骗人;n.虚张声势,欺骗
    参考例句:
    • His threats are merely bluff. 他的威胁仅仅是虚张声势。
    • John is a deep card. No one can bluff him easily. 约翰是个机灵鬼。谁也不容易欺骗他。
    63 meek [mi:k] x7qz9   第9级
    adj.温顺的,逆来顺受的
    参考例句:
    • He expects his wife to be meek and submissive. 他期望妻子温顺而且听他摆布。
    • The little girl is as meek as a lamb. 那个小姑娘像羔羊一般温顺。
    64 toll [təʊl] LJpzo   第7级
    n.过路(桥)费;损失,伤亡人数;v.敲(钟)
    参考例句:
    • The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night. 昨晚那场冰雹严重损坏了我们村的庄稼。
    • The war took a heavy toll of human life. 这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。
    65 vouchers [ˈvaʊtʃəz] 4f649eeb2fd7ec1ef73ed951059af072   第9级
    n.凭证( voucher的名词复数 );证人;证件;收据
    参考例句:
    • These vouchers are redeemable against any future purchase. 这些优惠券将来购物均可使用。
    • This time we were given free vouchers to spend the night in a nearby hotel. 这一次我们得到了在附近一家旅馆入住的免费券。 来自英语晨读30分(高二)
    66 fugitives [ˈfju:dʒitivz] f38dd4e30282d999f95dda2af8228c55   第10级
    n.亡命者,逃命者( fugitive的名词复数 )
    参考例句:
    • Three fugitives from the prison are still at large. 三名逃犯仍然未被抓获。 来自《简明英汉词典》
    • Members of the provisional government were prisoners or fugitives. 临时政府的成员或被捕或逃亡。 来自演讲部分
    67 mileage [ˈmaɪlɪdʒ] doOzUs   第10级
    n.里程,英里数;好处,利润
    参考例句:
    • He doesn't think there's any mileage in that type of advertising. 他认为做那种广告毫无效益。
    • What mileage has your car done? 你的汽车跑了多少英里?
    68 depot [ˈdepəʊ] Rwax2   第9级
    n.仓库,储藏处;公共汽车站;火车站
    参考例句:
    • The depot is only a few blocks from here. 公共汽车站离这儿只有几个街区。
    • They leased the building as a depot. 他们租用这栋大楼作仓库。
    69 deductions [dɪ'dʌkʃnz] efdb24c54db0a56d702d92a7f902dd1f   第9级
    扣除( deduction的名词复数 ); 结论; 扣除的量; 推演
    参考例句:
    • Many of the older officers trusted agents sightings more than cryptanalysts'deductions. 许多年纪比较大的军官往往相信特务的发现,而不怎么相信密码分析员的推断。
    • You know how you rush at things,jump to conclusions without proper deductions. 你知道你处理问题是多么仓促,毫无合适的演绎就仓促下结论。
    70 fidelity [fɪˈdeləti] vk3xB   第8级
    n.忠诚,忠实;精确
    参考例句:
    • There is nothing like a dog's fidelity. 没有什么能比得上狗的忠诚。
    • His fidelity and industry brought him speedy promotion. 他的尽职及勤奋使他很快地得到晋升。
    71 postpone [pəˈspəʊn] rP0xq   第7级
    vi.延期,推迟;vt.使…延期;把…放在次要地位;把…放在后面
    参考例句:
    • I shall postpone making a decision till I learn full particulars. 在未获悉详情之前我得从缓作出决定。
    • She decided to postpone the converastion for that evening. 她决定当天晚上把谈话搁一搁。
    72 inevitable [ɪnˈevɪtəbl] 5xcyq   第7级
    adj.不可避免的,必然发生的
    参考例句:
    • Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat. 玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
    • The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy. 战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。
    73 immunity [ɪˈmju:nəti] dygyQ   第9级
    n.优惠;免除;豁免,豁免权
    参考例句:
    • The law gives public schools immunity from taxation. 法律免除公立学校的纳税义务。
    • He claims diplomatic immunity to avoid being arrested. 他要求外交豁免以便避免被捕。
    74 traitor [ˈtreɪtə(r)] GqByW   第7级
    n.叛徒,卖国贼
    参考例句:
    • The traitor was finally found out and put in prison. 那个卖国贼终于被人发现并被监禁了起来。
    • He was sold out by a traitor and arrested. 他被叛徒出卖而被捕了。
    75 imprisonment [ɪm'prɪznmənt] I9Uxk   第8级
    n.关押,监禁,坐牢
    参考例句:
    • His sentence was commuted from death to life imprisonment. 他的判决由死刑减为无期徒刑。
    • He was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for committing bigamy. 他因为犯重婚罪被判入狱一年。
    76 hoofs [hu:fs] ffcc3c14b1369cfeb4617ce36882c891   第9级
    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 )
    参考例句:
    • The stamp of the horse's hoofs on the wooden floor was loud. 马蹄踏在木头地板上的声音很响。 来自辞典例句
    • The noise of hoofs called him back to the other window. 马蹄声把他又唤回那扇窗子口。 来自辞典例句
    77 collateral [kəˈlætərəl] wqhzH   第8级
    adj.平行的;旁系的;n.担保品
    参考例句:
    • Many people use personal assets as collateral for small business loans. 很多人把个人财产用作小额商业贷款的抵押品。
    • Most people here cannot borrow from banks because they lack collateral. 由于拿不出东西作为抵押,这里大部分人无法从银行贷款。

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