南: south...
料理: to arrange, to handle, to cook, cuisine, art of cooking...
惊慌失措: to lose one's head out of fear (idiom)...
陈旧: old-fashioned...
从而: thus, thereby...
忍耐: to endure, to bear with, to exercise patience, to restrain oneself, patience, endurance...
近代: the not-very-distant past, modern times, excluding recent decades, (in the context of Chinese history) the period from the Opium Wars until the May 4th Movement (mid-19th century to919), capitalis...
沉闷: oppressive (of weather), heavy, depressed, not happy, (of sound) dull, muffled...
越发: increasingly, more and more, ever more, all the more...
则: (conjunction used to express contrast with a previous clause) but, then, standard, norm, principle, to imitate, to follow, classifier for written items...
