Read the following excerpt from The First Men in the Moon, then answer the question below. The trees about the building swayed and whirled and tore themselves to pieces, that sprang towards the flare. My ears were smitten with a clap of thunder that left me deaf on one side for life, and all about me windows smashed, unheeded. Based on the excerpt, the word, "smitten," most nearly means: obsessed removed touched struck