Vocabulary

decline; one's declining fortunes; decay

great eater; glutton

severance payment; retirement money (usu. lump-sum); redundancy payment

wearing a sword

calamity; disaster; great misfortune; grand climacteric

solar year; tropical year

sensibility; (having) many worries and regrets

to throb; to beat fast

gift; boon; godsend

bulletproof; protection (or charm) against bullets

to trail (of smoke, clouds, etc.); to hang (of mist, haze, etc.); to lie (over); to linger; to flow (e.g. of hair in the wind)

bird-watching

on the brink of

brief note; brief letter; brief message

sightseeing

searchlight

freshwater lake

polytheism

many items; pressure of business

lucidity; intelligibility; perspicuity

position; orientation

base angle

forming an alliance; conclusion of a treaty of alliance

laying a cornerstone (foundation stone)

law; established rule

thinning out fruit; removing superfluous fruit

entanglement; clinging affection; involvement

malleability

accompanying note or letter; postscript

foot-binding

stylus; steel pen; stencil pen

ritual visits to a temple

cable; wire rope; cableway

steel or iron dome

reddish-black; iron blue; greenish-black; steel gray

philosophic principles; philosophy

secretly felling trees

lighthouse keeper

sugar-coated pill

to liberate; to set free